I was born in another country but as a kid immigrated with my parents to the US and was naturalized as a US citizen. My parents changed my legal name during this process, specifically by adding a western name to my existing ethnic first name, which they claim was possible without a court order. As such my birth certificate and my current US documentation (passport, DL) have different first names. I'm looking for some documentation proving this name change, but I'm not sure if FOIA is the correct route. Anyone have experience in this?

Hi, I am new to this, but I've done research and I am very passionate about getting this project completed. I have started a crowdsourcing project on MuckRock to spread out the labor required for a nation-wide inquiry into the wave of anti-trans legislation - particularly I want to find any evidence that may exist of particular lobbyist or non-governmental organizations interfering with the drafting, amending, and passage of the legislation. The search is nation-wide because the legislation across jurisdiction bears such striking similarity in wording and particular flaws in enforceability, other legal issues, and misunderstandings of science,. I would like to see if there are patterns of specific individuals or lobbyist/activist organizations that keep showing up in the data.

I am currently working on compiling the data required for the Mississippi requests. I am just also low-income so I can't fund all the requests for information I want to eventually complete on my own, though I do know some states like Mississippi can at their discretion waive the fees if you are some kind of journalist. I have over a decade of journalism and other publishing experience.

Thank y'all.

https://www.muckrock.com/assignment/whos-writing-all-the-anti-trans-bills-528/#info

This was received in the email used to create the USCIS account, a few days after a FOIA request was made for Certificate of Naturalization:

An Acknowledgement Letter with important information regarding your request has been electronically delivered to the myUSCIS account you created. Please log into your account at https://first.uscis.gov to retrieve, view, and download the letter.

We can't find any kind of inbox on the site anywhere though

I made a FOIA request for the military entry date for an active-duty member of the military. They redacted almost all of the "normally releasable" information, and cited the "foreseeable harm standard" as applied to Exemption #6, which deals with undue invasion of privacy of the service member. It doesn't seem to me that I was asking for information that might be an invasion of privacy. Does anyone have any insight as to what this might mean? This member seems to have first joined in the Delayed Enlistment Program, and then converted to regular service several months later.

My status says in process what does that mean? Is it a good thing ? how long should I expect to wait now?

Questionable FOIA certification in a document

I'm involved in a legal dispute with my ex-wife, a police employee. I have text messages where she boasts about influencing the police and courts. Her copies of these messages were obtained through an internal affairs investigation where she submitted her own copies. Her department gave me uncertified copies.

I filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with her department for certified copies of these messages to use as evidence in court (Michigan Rules of Evidence 902 and 1005). Initially, they provided completely redacted and uncertified copies. After appealing, they agreed to release unredacted, certified copies.

However, the authenticity certification is on the second page of the document. I'm concerned this may affect the scope of the certification and admissibility in court.

Public body’s attorney argues that the certification is sufficient.

Due to extreme time constraints and limited resources, I need to file my brief soon. How can I effectively argue for the admission of this document without extra difficulties? Would an argument based on the intent of the certification be sufficient?

Today i learned that the FBI and most other Federal Agencies maintain a list of “Vexsome Filers”. People that either file FOIA’s too frequently or too many requests for their liking.

They would release this list upon request without redactions until 2020, they started redacting all the names on the list and have consistently refused to release an unredacted copy since 2019.

They will not only not tell you if you are on the list or not, but they will also not tell you what the criteria for being added or removed from the list.

Just spreading the word as i was completely unaware of this.

I recently submitted four requests and three were marked "Closed" with no explanation. Has anyone had this experience?

1960 my grandfather was shot and killed by a friend under strange circumstances. It has always been family lore so I wanted to get more information about what might have actually happened.

In February I requested a copy of a police report and any related files they might still have from the Oklahoma City PD via https://www.foioklahoma.org/open-records-act.

They sent me a copy of the police report but the entire “witness endorsed” section had been redacted and along with a few other bits of information throughout.

Last week I submitted the same request but asked for an unredacted copy and I was told they would send my request to their legal department for approval.

A few days later I got this email

“Your request has been processed by the Municipal Counselor's office and their findings are as follows:

'Provide open-record version of the arrest report. Follow up report was not retained.’

Open-record = redacted per SOP."

I looked at the OK’s Open Records Act to try and understand why I was denied the unredacted copy but I can’t find anything.

I’m wondering if I have any recourse here?

hey everyone!

i want to request FOIA information for the first time and could use some guidance. i'm a YouTuber who creates true crime-adjacent content (booo i know) and I'm looking to obtain things like interrogation footage, court documents, transcripts, and police reports. the first request I want to make is for a case in Ohio, but I live in Texas. are my chances of getting the information I need good? considering I'm a content creator and not a journalist (or anybody related to the case for that matter)?

any tips or insights would be greatly appreciated!

Any luck being granted a FOIA request from USICS to obtain a list of all non-citizens at a given company, including information on Visa type, country of origin, position title, salary, start date and LCA number if H-1B?

DOL doesn't keep records of non-citizens at a given company, but somehow oversees non-citizen workers at a given company. DOL can request I-9 info from a given company, but no database or records currently exist on file at DOL. There has to be some record of a filed I-9, other than in a company's records. Surely there must be a system of checks and balances to validate if a company is falsifying records...

If explicit photos are collected as evidence in a case and the person depicted in the photos is an adult, are those photos now public record and able to be released unredacted?

This question would also pertain to Internal Affair investigations that collect photos for their investigation.

Would releasing these photos fall under the sexual cyber harassment statute if they are released as a public records request?

Hello Everyone!

I was wanting to submit a request on the FBI FOIA website, but not really sure how to do it or what to expect.

A quick backstory. My grandfather died in the 1950s by suicide. However, some people in my family think it may have been staged to look like a suicide and in reality may have been foul play (and that he may have been under FBI investigation before he died). I would like to see if there is any information regarding his death or any investigations prior to or after his death. I do have his death certificate.

What I would like to know is:

1. When I submit his request, do I mention there may have been unusual circumstances around his death? Or do I just keep it generic and see what they find? How specific should I be?
2. Does it only cost $25 or is the amount determined by how much information they find? How can I know what to expect to pay for this?

In order for USCIS to not redact the names of other family members that will appear in a requested document (A N-400 Application for Naturalization from decades ago), the family members need to sign that they consent to that. We're wondering if this example form we wrote up is usable. The current plan is to also paste a picture (in color) we take of their New York driver license on the right side of the form, which would be next to the personal information list (Full name, date of birth, etc), and then printing the form. Then the family members would bring their forms to a notary public and have them signed and notarized. Then the scanned completed forms are uploaded when filling out the FOIA request online. Is there anything wrong with the form, or the way we'll do things?

CONSENT TO UNITED STATES CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES (USCIS) RELEASING MY INFORMATION

[Picture of driver license on the right]

Full name: Firstname Lastname

Maiden name: Firstname Lastname

Date of birth: 01 January 1900

Location of birth: COMUNE NAME, ITALY

Current address: 1234 567TH AVENUE, TOWN NAME, NEW YORK 12345-1234, UNITED STATES

I, Firstname Lastname, consent to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) releasing my information.

I, Firstname Lastname, declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct.

Print name: ________________

Date of signature: ________________

Signature: ________________

For instance, could I make a request for all full police reports that involve someone being convicted of a DWI in the county within the past month?

Or could I ask for all police reports where an active duty officer discharged a firearm within the past month?

Would these requests be denied because they are too broad? Would there most likely be a fee that is attached to these requests?

Very new to all of this so any information is appreciated.

Another question specifically for Virginia FOIAs, like if i knew a celebrity use to live in VA and had law troubles pre-fame would anyone like paparazzi or whatever be able to get their FOIA and all their info including mugshots, and whatever else appears in a FOIA? Would them being a celebrity and known figure increase or decrease or unaffect the odds of the request being approved?

I received 258 pages in response to my FOIA request, and this letter says they won’t send me the other 1,470 pages. Can anyone recommend response verbiage for my rebuttal?

Anyone got previous experience with the army CID? Would like to seek a report regarding a third party specifically this incident, using FOIA only (not PA), but it appears on that website that identification is always required?

https://www.cid.army.mil/Resources/FOIA-Requests/ (check out that downloadable form)

Since the CID does seem to be a popular foia destination I would like to know if anyone has dealt with them before (FOIA not PA) and whether you have provided any identification documents.

Thank you.

My grandfather was an intelligence officer in the Airforce from the mid sixties to the late eighties, and a lot of what he did during his career was classified at that time. Now that he has passed, would it be possible to use a FOIA request to get a more complete picture of his service?
He kept pretty meticulous records, so we have all his health stuff, all of his promotion letters, all of his metal and award letters, etc, just nothing about what he was actually doing when.

Hi all,

I submitted a couple of weeks ago a foia request to cbp asking them for my entry / exit dates from the country.

The CBP marked it as "simple request" and they are currently gathering the data.

What is the expected turn around for this?

Three investigators for the Heritage Foundation have deluged federal agencies with thousands of Freedom of Information Act requests over the past year, requesting a wide range of information on government employees, including communications that could be seen as a political liability by conservatives. Among the documents they’ve sought are lists of agency personnel and messages sent by individual government workers that mention, among other things, “climate equity,” “voting” or “SOGIE,” an acronym for sexual orientation, gender identity and expression.

The Heritage team filed these requests even as the think tank’s Project 2025 was promoting a controversial plan to remove job protections for tens of thousands of career civil servants so they could be identified and fired if Donald Trump wins the presidential election.

All three men who filed the requests — Mike Howell, Colin Aamot and Roman Jankowski — did so on behalf of the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project, an arm of the conservative group that uses FOIA, lawsuits and undercover videos to investigate government activities. In recent months, the group has used information gleaned from the requests to call attention to efforts by the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency to teach staff about gender diversity, which Fox News characterized as the “Biden administration’s ‘woke’ policies within the Department of Defense.” Heritage also used material gathered from a FOIA search to claim that a listening session the Justice Department held with voting rights activists constituted an attempt to “rig” the presidential election because no Republicans were present.

An analysis of more than 2,000 public-records requests submitted by Aamot, Howell and Jankowski to more than two dozen federal offices and agencies, including the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Trade Commission, shows an intense focus on hot-button phrases used by individual government workers.

Those 2,000 requests are just the tip of the iceberg, Howell told ProPublica in an interview. Howell, the executive director of the Oversight Project, estimated that his group had submitted more than 50,000 information requests over the past two years. He described the project as “the most prestigious international investigative operation in the world.”

Among 744 requests that Aamot, Jankowski and Howell submitted to the Department of the Interior over the past year are 161 that seek civil servants’ emails and texts as well as Slack and Microsoft Teams messages that contained terms including “climate change”; “DEI,” or diversity, equity and inclusion; and “GOTV,” an acronym for get out the vote. Many of these FOIAs request the messages of individual employees by name.

Trump has made clear his intentions to overhaul the Department of the Interior, which protects the nation’s natural resources, including hundreds of millions of acres of land. Under President Joe Biden, the department has made tackling climate change a priority.

Hundreds of the requests asked for government employees’ communications with civil rights and voting rights groups, including the ACLU; the Native American Rights Fund; Rock the Vote; and Fair Count, an organization founded by Democratic politician and voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams. Still other FOIAs sought communications that mention “Trump” and “Reduction in Force,” a term that refers to layoffs.

Several requests, including some sent to the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, focus on personnel. Some ask for “all employees who entered into a position at the agency as a Political Appointee since January 20, 2021,” the first day of the Biden administration. Others target career employees. Still other FOIAs seek agencies’ “hierarchy charts.”

“It does ring some alarm bells as to whether this is part of an effort to either intimidate government employees or, ultimately, to fire them and replace them with people who are going to be loyal to a leader that they may prefer,” Noah Bookbinder, president and CEO of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, said of the FOIAs.

Asked whether the project gathered the records to facilitate the firing of government workers, Howell said, “Our work is meant to just figure out who the decision-makers are.” He added that his group isn’t focused on simply identifying particular career employees. “It’s more about what the bureaucrats are doing, not who the bureaucrats are,” he said.

I was going to make a FOIA request to the FBI about bootleggers from a certain area but then I realized that the prohibition agents were part of the IRS and the Treasury for a bit. Which of those 3 agencies should I make a request to concerning bootleggers?

Does anyone have a good general FOIA primer that they'd recommend? If not general then any good resources on getting educated on (1) obtaining private party information through FOIA requests (e.g., government contractors), and/or (2) state vs federal FOIA?

Thank you!

So i need ideas on what i can foia to help prove my case. I was falsely accused of something and i can prove it decently however poking more holes in a bad report helps.

Can i foia someones work schedule? So the report tells that someone in charge told the person who threatened me to talk to me about an event. When in reality he talked and threatened me the day before he even found out about it. (I heard the convo of him telling the guy in charge). Pretty sure big boss was off at the time he talked to me. On a monday. So no time for him to have told jerk. So can i request phone records ? Schedules ? I already got the email’s and nothing. Just need more ideas of foia’s for this. Its a law enforcement academy.

The agency will grant a fee waiver when disclosure of the requested information is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations and activities of the government and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester. Requests for fee waivers from individuals who are seeking records pertaining to themselves usually do not meet this standard.

Does this mean that generally you would have a fee for making a first-party request?

I’m not sure if this is the right place to ask, so apologies in advance if it is not.

Long story short, my partner got arrested a few months back. They were charged with a misdemeanor, and are currently awaiting a court date. They were drunk when the incident occurred, and cannot recall many details of the night. Out of pure curiosity, I want to file an FOIA for their police report. But I don’t want my partner to know about it because it is still a sore topic.

Will they be notified when I file an FOIA? I know that FOIA requests are technically public records. If they aren’t notified, how easy would it be for them to find out I filed one? Will my name be attached to the request?

Trying to get info on FEMA funding received for a specific house in Florida that is contested. Is this something where FOIA would be required, or are there datasets where I can drill down into addresses, names, and specific amounts received? (Found aggregate IHP data, but no specific addresses listed)

I am looking for funding that was dispersed in the last month, which may present another problem.

I have reached out with this inquiry to the Fema-Foia email, fwiw.

I opened up a third-party FOIA request a few months ago for military start dates (particularly basic training) of a particular individual.  I supplied their full name (a not particularly common name), their exact date of birth, and a few other facts about their current military assignment.  After 2 months, I received a response that NO RECORD could be found of that individual.  I supplied further evidence that the information I supplied was correct and asked them to reopen the request and give it priority since I’ve already been waiting for 2 months.  They have not responded to that request.  A week ago, I sent an email to the FOIA Public Liaison Officer for that military branch asking them to advise me.  I haven’t gotten a response to that either.  All of my communication in this matter has been via email, except the official response of NO RECORDS was provided by US Postal Service.

Any ideas what is going on?  Are my expectations too high for what seems like a simple answer to a question that is not particularly invasive to the privacy of that individual.