How to Fill Out and Submit EOIR-59: Certification and Release of Records

Form EOIR-59, Certification and Release of Records, is the consent form the Executive Office for Immigration Review uses to release immigration court files. You fill it out and sign it either to request your own Record of Proceeding from an immigration court or the Board of Immigration Appeals, or to authorize a third party — a relative, attorney, journalist, or researcher — to obtain your file through a FOIA request. The current version is a free PDF on the EOIR forms page, last revised in August 2023.

When You Actually Need It

The Privacy Act stops federal agencies from releasing personal records without the subject’s written consent, and EOIR-59 is how you give that consent for immigration court files.¹ The form matters most when someone other than you or your attorney of record wants nonpublic information from your proceedings. EOIR’s FOIA Service Center recommends including a completed, signed, and dated EOIR-59 with any such third-party request; without it, the agency will likely withhold the records.²

If you are requesting your own records through FOIA and not authorizing anyone else, EOIR suggests Form DOJ-361 (Certification of Identity) instead. You can also verify your identity by providing your full name, current address, date and place of birth, and either a notarized signature or a declaration under penalty of perjury.²

Attorneys of record don’t need this form at all. If you have already filed Form EOIR-28 in immigration court or EOIR-27 at the BIA, you can request your client’s Record of Proceeding without an EOIR-59 and without supplying the client’s date or place of birth.³

Filling Out the Form

The information on the form is what lets EOIR pull the right file. Print clearly. You will provide:

Full legal name and any aliases used in prior immigration proceedings or border crossings.
Date and place of birth, which distinguish people with similar names.
The subject’s Alien Registration Number (A-Number) — the seven-, eight-, or nine-digit number DHS assigns and prints on green cards, work permits, and immigration court notices. Getting this right is the single most important step, because it’s how the agency locates the exact file.⁴
The categories of records authorized for release. Use the checkboxes to select only the record types you want disclosed.

Always download the current version straight from EOIR’s forms page rather than reusing an older PDF.⁵ An outdated version is an easy way to slow the request down.

Signing the Form

A completed form isn’t valid until the subject’s identity is verified in one of two ways. Pick whichever fits your circumstances.

Notarized Signature

Sign in front of a notary public. The notary verifies your identity, applies a seal or stamp, and records the commission expiration and location. Fees for a single acknowledgment usually run between $2 and $25 depending on the state. Banks, shipping stores, and law offices commonly provide the service.

Unsworn Declaration Under Penalty of Perjury

Under 28 U.S.C. § 1746 you can skip the notary by adding a specific declaration above your signature.⁶ The wording depends on where you sign:

Inside the United States: “I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on [date].”
Outside the United States: “I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on [date].”

The declaration has the same legal weight as a notarized oath. Knowingly making a false statement is perjury, punishable by a fine, up to five years in prison, or both under 18 U.S.C. § 1621.⁷ For anyone signing from outside the United States, this is usually the most practical option.

Where to Send It

Where the form goes depends on what you’re requesting. For a FOIA request, EOIR recommends submitting through its online Public Access Link (PAL) for the fastest processing; you upload a scanned or photographed copy of the signed EOIR-59 with your request.⁸ The National FOIA Portal at foia.gov works too.

By mail, send the completed form to:

Office of the General Counsel
Attn: FOIA Service Center
Executive Office for Immigration Review
5107 Leesburg Pike, Suite 2150
Falls Church, VA 22041²

For a direct Record of Proceeding request rather than a FOIA request, send the form to the immigration court or BIA that handled the case, not to the FOIA Service Center.³ For most people trying to get a copy of a closed case file, the FOIA route is the standard path.

What This Form Will Not Get You

EOIR sits inside the Department of Justice, not the Department of Homeland Security. Many records people think of as their “immigration file” — visa petitions filed with USCIS, ICE enforcement actions, CBP border crossing records — are DHS records that EOIR does not hold.² Submitting EOIR-59 will not retrieve any of them. For those, file a separate FOIA request directly with the DHS component that has the records.

After You Submit

EOIR should issue a tracking number once it receives a FOIA request. Keep it. That number is your only reference for status inquiries with the FOIA Service Center. Processing times shift with the volume of pending requests and the complexity of the file search, and there is no published fixed timeline, so plan on several weeks at minimum and follow up if you don’t hear back within a reasonable period. The PAL portal tends to be faster than mail because it removes transit time and manual intake.⁸

There is no fee for the form itself. For a typical individual requesting a single case file, the free FOIA allowances — two hours of search time and the first 100 pages of duplication — usually cover the entire request, so no fee is charged.⁹

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 U.S.C. 552a – Records Maintained on Individuals
2
Executive Office for Immigration Review. How to Submit a FOIA Request
3
Executive Office for Immigration Review. Request a Record of Proceeding (ROP)
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. A-Number/Alien Registration Number/Alien Number
5
Executive Office for Immigration Review. Forms and Fees
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S.C. 1746 – Unsworn Declarations Under Penalty of Perjury
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S.C. 1621 – Perjury Generally
8
Executive Office for Immigration Review. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
9
eCFR. 28 CFR Part 16 – Production or Disclosure of Material or Information