How to Fill Out the Federal Inmate Visitation Form

To fill out the federal inmate visitation form, wait for the inmate to mail you a partially completed BP-A0629, then complete your sections with your legal name, date of birth, address, government ID details, relationship to the inmate, and a truthful criminal history, sign the certification, and mail it back to the facility for a background check.¹ There’s no online portal. The process is paper, and the inmate starts it.

How the Form Gets to You

When an inmate arrives at a Bureau of Prisons facility, staff hands them blank copies of the Visitor Information Form. The inmate fills in their own name, register number, and the facility address, then mails a copy to each person they want on their visiting list.¹ Your form arrives in the mail already partly done. You fill in the rest.

One boundary worth naming: attorneys visiting a client don’t use this form. Attorney visits are governed by separate regulations and take place in a private conference room that can’t be monitored for audio.² The BP-A0629 is for personal visitors: family, friends, associates.

Gather This Before You Start Writing

Have all of this in front of you:

A government-issued photo ID. Since May 7, 2025, entering a federal facility requires REAL ID-compliant identification. If your driver’s license doesn’t carry the REAL ID star, a U.S. passport or passport card works.³
Your full legal name, date of birth, current home address, and phone number with area code.
The inmate’s full legal name, register number, and facility. These should already be on the form.
Dates, charges, and outcomes for any prior arrests or convictions, plus details of any current probation, parole, or supervised release.
If you’re not a U.S. citizen, your alien registration number and passport number.⁴

Leaving requested fields blank isn’t a shortcut. The form itself warns that missing information can suspend processing entirely, and you won’t be considered for approval.⁴

Completing Each Section

Personal Information

Write your full legal name exactly as it appears on your photo ID. If your license says “Katherine” and you write “Kate,” the background check can snag. Enter your date of birth, home address, phone number, and the ID details requested, such as driver’s license number or passport number. Use black ink on paper and print clearly.

Inmate Information and Relationship

The inmate’s name, register number, and facility should already be filled in. Check that it’s legible and matches what you know. Then describe your relationship to the inmate honestly: immediate family, other relative, friend, or associate. Visiting privileges extend to friends and associates who had an established relationship with the inmate before confinement, unless the visit would raise security concerns.⁵

Criminal History

The form asks whether you have ever been arrested or convicted of a crime and whether you’re currently on probation, parole, or supervised release. This is the section where people get nervous and lie. Don’t. Having a record does not automatically disqualify you. The BOP weighs the nature, seriousness, and recency of any convictions against facility security.⁵ What does disqualify you is dishonesty, because the facility runs a National Crime Information Center check on every prospective visitor.¹

Certification and Signature

The last section is a declaration. Signing authorizes the BOP to investigate your background and confirms everything on the form is true. Read it before you sign and date. Providing false information on a federal government form is a crime under 18 U.S.C. § 1001, carrying up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.⁶⁷ You’d also be permanently denied visiting privileges at that facility.

If the Visitor Is a Minor

Children can visit, but the paperwork is stricter. For any visitor under 18, a parent or legal guardian must sign the Visitor Information Form before the BOP will process it.² Children under 16 must be accompanied by a responsible adult during the visit and stay under that adult’s supervision throughout.⁸ Every child, regardless of age, must be on the inmate’s approved list before visiting.

Some facilities ask for proof of the child’s relationship to the inmate, such as a birth certificate. Not every institution requires it, but having a copy ready saves time if they do.

Review and Mail It Back

Before it goes in the mail, walk through every field one more time. Confirm your name, date of birth, and address match your ID exactly. Answer every question, including criminal history. Blank fields can suspend processing. Sign and date the certification. Then photocopy the whole finished form for your records.

Mail it to the inmate’s address at the facility, which should already be printed on the form. A mailing service with delivery tracking is worth the small cost. Don’t route the form back through personal channels; it needs to reach institution staff for processing.¹

What Happens After You Submit

Once the institution receives the form, staff run your name through the NCIC database and may contact other law enforcement agencies.¹ Some institutions aim to complete approval within seven days of receiving all required paperwork; busier facilities take longer. The inmate is notified of the outcome, and it’s the inmate who passes word to you.

There’s also a list cap. Immediate family members don’t appear to face a numerical limit, but the BOP allows no more than ten friends or associates on an inmate’s approved list at any one time.¹ If the list is full, the inmate has to remove someone to add you.

If You’re Denied

The warden can deny an application when a background check raises security concerns or when visits would disrupt the orderly operation of the facility.⁵ Common reasons include recent serious convictions, active warrants, current involvement in a case connected to the inmate, or being a victim or witness in the inmate’s case. A criminal record by itself isn’t enough; the BOP looks at how recent and how serious it is.

Appeals run through the inmate, not through you. The inmate can challenge the denial through the BOP’s Administrative Remedy Program, starting at the institution level with the warden (BP-9), then to the Regional Director (BP-10), and finally to the Central Office (BP-11), which exhausts the BOP’s internal process.⁹

1
Federal Bureau of Prisons. How to Visit a Federal Inmate
2
U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Prisons. Visiting Regulations
3
Department of Homeland Security. ID Requirements for Federal Facilities
4
Federal Bureau of Prisons. Visitor Information Form BP-A0629
5
U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Prisons. Visiting Regulations
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1001 – Statements or Entries Generally
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3571 – Sentence of Fine
8
eCFR. Subpart D Visiting Regulations
9
Federal Bureau of Prisons. Legal Resource Guide to the Federal Bureau of Prisons