Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

Send a FOIA Request

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Document Description
Type of Requester

To help determine your status for assessing fees, please select the category that best fits you.  This information helps FOIA personnel determine what fees, if any, may be applicable.

I am a representative of the news media, and this request is made as part of a news gathering effort and not for commercial use.
I am affiliated with an educational or noncommercial scientific institution, and this request is made for a scholarly or scientific purpose and not for commercial use.
I am affiliated with a private business, corporation, or association and I am seeking information for use in the organization’s business.
I am an individual seeking information for personal use and not for commercial purposes.
Fees

To avoid delays in processing your request, please provide your willingness to pay at least $20. Check the box to indicate your agreement.

Are you willing to pay for processing your FOIA request?
Fee Waiver

If you are seeking a fee waiver, it is your responsibility to provide detailed information to support your request. You must submit this information with your FOIA request. Each fee waiver request is judged on its own merit. The FAA does not grant "blanket" fee waivers. The fact that you have received a fee waiver in the past does not mean you are automatically entitled to a fee waiver for other requests you submit, because essential elements of any fee waiver determination is whether:

  1. That the subject matter of the requested records concerns the operations or activities of the Federal Government;
  2. That the disclosure is likely to contribute to an understanding of Federal Government operations or activities;
  3. That disclosure of the requested information will contribute to the understanding of the public at large, as opposed to the understanding of the individual requester or a narrow segment of interested persons (to establish this factor, the requester must show an intent and ability to disseminate the requested information to a reasonably broad audience of persons interested in the subject);
  4. That the contribution to public understanding of Federal Government operations or activities will be significant; and
  5. That the requester does not have a commercial interest that would be furthered by the requested disclosure or that the magnitude of any identified commercial interest to the requester is not sufficiently large in comparison with the public interest in disclosure to render the disclosure one that is primarily in the commercial interest of the requester.
Are you requesting a statutory fee waiver?
Expedited Processing
Agencies generally process requests on a first-in, first-out basis. Most agencies also use separate tracks to process simple and complex requests. Under certain circumstances, your request may qualify for placement into a separate, expedited track where the agency will process it as soon as practicable. The standards for expedited processing are set out in the FOIA and in the regulations of each federal agency. Under the FOIA, a requester may qualify for expedited processing if they can demonstrate a “compelling need” for the records. A “compelling need” can be shown by: (1) establishing that the failure to obtain records on an expedited basis “could reasonably be expected to pose an imminent threat to the life or physical safety of an individual;” or, (2) if the requester is a “person primarily engaged in disseminating information,” by demonstrating that there is an “urgency to inform the public concerning actual or alleged Federal Government activity.” Agencies may also establish additional standards for granting expedited processing, which they describe in their FOIA regulations. Requesters must demonstrate how they meet one of the standards in order to have their request processed on an expedited basis.
Are you requesting expedited processing?