How to File a FOIA Request: Costs, Timing, and Denials

To file a FOIA request, send a written request to the federal agency that holds the records you want, describing those records specifically enough that an employee could find them, and stating how much you are willing to pay in fees. Most people do this through FOIA.gov, which routes the request electronically to the right agency.¹ You do not have to be a U.S. citizen, explain why you want the records, or hire a lawyer. The burden is on the government to justify withholding anything, not on you to justify asking.²

Check Whether the Records Are Already Public

Before drafting a request, look at what the agency has already posted. Federal agencies are required to publish certain records in electronic reading rooms, including final opinions and orders from agency proceedings, policy statements, and administrative staff manuals that affect the public. They must also post any record that has been requested three or more times.³ FOIA.gov has a search tool that lets you look across agencies before starting a formal request.¹ If the document is already online, you get it in minutes instead of months.

Make Sure the Agency Is Covered

FOIA applies to every executive branch department, military department, government corporation, government-controlled corporation, and independent regulatory agency.⁴ That includes agencies people sometimes overlook, such as the U.S. Postal Service and the Federal Reserve Board.

It does not apply to Congress, the federal courts, or the parts of the Executive Office of the President that exist solely to advise the President.⁴ You cannot use FOIA to get records from a senator’s office or the Supreme Court. State and local governments operate under their own public records laws.

Write and Submit the Request

The most common way to file is through FOIA.gov, which forwards your request to the correct agency.¹ Many agencies also run their own online portals. Mail still works if you prefer paper, but electronic submissions are faster and easier to track.

The single most important part of the request is how you describe the records. The rule is that an employee familiar with the subject should be able to locate them without unreasonable effort. Be specific. Include date ranges, the names of programs or officials, and the type of record you want (emails, reports, contracts). A request for “all records about immigration” will likely be rejected or bounced back for clarification. Something like “emails between the Director of X Program and the Deputy Secretary during March 2024 regarding Y policy” gives the agency a real target.

You do not need to cite the statute or use legal language. A plain letter or online form that identifies who you are, what records you want, how you want them delivered, and how much you are willing to pay is enough. Electronic delivery is usually the cheapest option. Setting a fee cap in the initial request (for example, “I am willing to pay up to $50”) keeps the agency from running up charges without your approval and prevents a common source of delay.

What It Will Cost

What you pay depends on who you are and why you want the records. FOIA sorts requesters into three fee categories:³

Commercial requesters pay for search time, document review, and duplication. This is the most expensive category and applies when the records will be used for trade, business, or profit.
Educational institutions, scientific institutions, and news media pay only for duplication, and the first 100 pages are free.
Everyone else pays for search time and duplication, with the first two hours of search and first 100 pages free.

Paper copies typically run about $0.10 per page.⁵ Electronic copies are often cheaper or free. An agency cannot charge a fee when collecting the fee would cost as much as the fee itself, which effectively makes very small requests free.³ If your request will cost more than $25, many agencies pause processing until you agree to the estimate.⁶

Fee Waivers

Agencies must waive or reduce fees when releasing the records is in the public interest, meaning the information would significantly contribute to public understanding of government operations and is not primarily in your commercial interest.³ A waiver request should describe the records, explain how you plan to share what you learn with the public, and address why your interest is not commercial. Journalists, researchers, and nonprofits have the strongest arguments, but anyone can apply. If the agency denies the waiver, you can appeal that decision the same way you would appeal a denial of records.

How Fast You’ll Get a Response

Once the agency receives your request, it has 20 working days to issue a determination telling you whether it will release the records, withhold them, or release them in part.³ Working days exclude weekends and federal holidays, so 20 working days is roughly a calendar month.

The agency can extend that by up to 10 more working days when “unusual circumstances” exist. The statute limits that phrase to three situations: the records sit in a separate field office, the request covers a large volume of records, or the agency needs to consult another agency with a substantial interest in the material.⁷ The agency must notify you in writing.

In practice, many agencies carry heavy backlogs, and actual responses often take longer than the statutory deadline. You can ask for an estimated completion date at any time, and the agency has to give you one. If the agency misses the deadline, it loses the right to charge search fees (or duplication fees for educational and news media requesters).² A missed deadline also counts as exhausting your administrative remedies, so you can sue without first filing an appeal.³

Expedited Processing

Expedited processing jumps you to the front of the queue, but qualifying is deliberately hard. You must show a “compelling need,” meaning either that a failure to get the records quickly could reasonably be expected to threaten someone’s life or physical safety, or that you are primarily engaged in disseminating information to the public and there is urgency to inform the public about actual or alleged government activity. You must include a certified statement that your need is true and correct to the best of your knowledge. The agency has 10 days to decide.³

What Agencies Can Withhold

FOIA starts from the premise that records should be released. Since 2016, an agency can only withhold information when disclosure would cause foreseeable harm to an interest the law protects, or when another statute prohibits release.⁸ There are nine exemptions, covering:³

Classified national security information.
Internal personnel rules and practices.
Information another statute specifically bars from disclosure.
Trade secrets and confidential commercial or financial information.⁹
Internal deliberations, drafts, and privileged inter-agency or intra-agency communications, though this exemption does not apply to records created 25 or more years before the request.
Personnel, medical, and similar files whose release would clearly invade personal privacy.
Law enforcement records, where release would cause one of six specific harms listed in the statute.
Bank examination and similar financial-institution oversight reports.
Geological and geophysical data about wells.

When a document mixes exempt and non-exempt material, the agency must release everything it can after removing the protected portions. Redactions must be clearly marked, and the agency must identify which exemption it relied on.¹⁰

Separately, three narrow “exclusions” let an agency respond as if certain sensitive law enforcement, informant, or FBI foreign-intelligence records do not exist at all.³ These rarely come up for ordinary requesters, but they explain why a “no responsive records” answer does not always mean the records do not exist.

If You Are Denied

If the agency denies your request, withholds records you think should be released, or rules against you on fees or expedited processing, you can file an administrative appeal. Agencies must give you at least 90 days from the date of the adverse determination to file.³ The denial letter tells you where and how to send it.

The appeal does not need to be elaborate. Identify the original request (with the tracking number), explain why the decision was wrong, and add any facts or arguments that support release. A senior agency official reviews the decision from scratch.¹¹ The agency has 20 working days to rule.

You can also contact the Office of Government Information Services at the National Archives, which Congress created to mediate FOIA disputes.¹² OGIS mediation is free and non-binding, and can sometimes resolve stalled requests faster than a formal appeal.

If the appeal is denied, or the agency has already missed its deadlines, you can sue in federal district court, filing where you live, where you work, where the records are located, or in the District of Columbia. The court reviews the withholding decision independently, with the burden on the agency. The judge can review the disputed records privately. If you substantially prevail, the court can order the government to pay your attorney fees and costs, though people who represent themselves generally cannot recover fees.³

If You Are Asking for Records About Yourself

When the records you want are about you rather than about government operations, the Privacy Act of 1974 gives you a second track. U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents can use it to access records about themselves that an agency keeps in a “system of records” retrievable by name or personal identifier.¹³

You do not have to pick one law or the other. Agencies process requests for your own records under both FOIA and the Privacy Act, and information cannot be withheld unless it qualifies for an exemption under both.¹³ One practical difference: a Privacy Act request requires identity verification, usually a signed statement under penalty of perjury. A FOIA release counts as a release to the public; a Privacy Act release goes only to you.

1
FOIA.gov. FOIA.gov – Freedom of Information Act
2
FOIA.gov. Freedom of Information Act Statute
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 552 – Public Information; Agency Rules, Opinions, Orders, Records, and Proceedings
4
FOIA.gov. FOIA.gov – Freedom of Information Act
5
eCFR. 45 CFR 5.52 – What Is the FOIA Fee Schedule for Obtaining Records
6
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. FOIA Fees and Fee Waivers
7
Cornell Law Institute. Unusual Circumstances From 5 USC 552(a)(6)
8
U.S. Department of Justice. OIP Guidance: Applying a Presumption of Openness and the Foreseeable Harm Standard
9
U.S. Department of Justice. Exemption 4 After the Supreme Court’s Ruling in Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media
10
U.S. Department of Justice. Segregating and Marking Documents for Release in Accordance With the Open Government Act
11
Department of Justice. OIP Guidance: Adjudicating Administrative Appeals Under the FOIA
12
National Archives. The Office of Government Information Services (OGIS)
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 552a – Records Maintained on Individuals