The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/all/20041016035550/http://foia.state.gov/foiareq/foialetter.asp
Skip to bodyU.S. Department of State
U.S. Department of State
State Department home page Contact Us FOIA home page Privacy Notice State Department archived site
U.S. Department of State
About the State Dept. Press and Public Affairs Travel and Living Abroad Countries and Regions International Issues History, Education and Culture Business Center Other Services Employment
Bureau of Administration
FOIA Home
About Us
About FOIA and Other Information Access Programs
Reference
Regulations
Other Sites
Telephone Directory
Key Officers List
  Post Reports
Declassified / Released Document Collections
Site Search

Disclaimers & Preferences

HOW TO MAKE A FOIA REQUEST

Although there is no standard format or form to use to request records from the State Department, you may find the below FOIA Request Letter Generator helpful in structuring your request.

Requests for personal information regarding yourself require an original signature. If you are requesting records under the Privacy Act (United States citizens and Permanent Resident Aliens) please go to "About the Privacy Act" in Frequently Asked Questions.

To find out what records are available from the State Department, go to "About State Department Records" in Frequently Asked Questions. Generally, permanent records older than 25 years, or pre-1925 passport and pre-1940 visa records are with the National Archives and Records Administration.


FOIA REQUEST AID

The FOIA Request Aid, with its accompanying help buttons, is designed to aid you in formulating a letter to request State Department records under the Freedom of Information Act. Please click the help buttons for detailed information.

Office of Information Programs and Services
A/RPS/IPS/RL
U. S. Department of State, SA-2
Washington, D. C. 20522-6001
Date: 10/15/2004

Dear FOIA Officer:
This is a request filed under the Freedom of Information Act.

Date range of request:
Between (mm/yyyy)   and  

Description of request ( ):
We strongly recommend that you use the tips if this is your first time filling out an online request.
For faster processing please restrict the parameters of this FOIA request to the State Archiving System--the State Archiving System (SAS) is the online central repository of the central foreign policy files that contains over 25 million electronic records, dating back from 1976 to present, of DOS telegram traffic to and from posts.

By making a FOIA request, the requester shall be considered to have agreed to pay all applicable fees up to $25.00 unless a fee waiver has been granted.

I am willing to pay fees for this request up to a maximum of
$ . If you estimate that the fees will exceed this limit, please inform me first.

Note:   In order to help to determine my status to assess fees, it is highly recommended that I view the

Tell us the purpose of your request. I am:
an individual seeking information for personal use and not for commercial use.
a representative of the news media affiliated with and this request is made as part of a news gathering effort and not for commercial use.(Additional documentation or comments will be required. See )
affiliated with an educational or noncommercial scientific institution, and this request is made for a scholarly or scientific purpose and not for commercial use.(Additional documentation will be required. See )
affiliated with a private corporation and am seeking information for use in the company's business.



Additional Comments

Thank you for your consideration of my request.
Sincerely,

How to Contact You: Our form does not automatically collect your e-mail address. You must either include your e-mail address or a mailing address, if you wish to receive a response from us.

Your Name


Your E-mail Address


Street Address


City


State or Country


Zip or Postal Code


Telephone Number


Fax Number




Please note that if your request concerns personal information on a living person, your request must be submitted with an original notarized signature, or original signature with a penalty of perjury statement, and/or Third Party Authorization if required, and cannot be faxed or electronically submitted. If your request does not concern personal information on a living person you may fax your request to (202) 261-8579.



PRIVACY ACT STATEMENT:

AUTHORITY: 5 U.S.C. 301, Departmental Regulations and 5 U.S.C. 552, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

PURPOSE: To allow individuals to file electronic FOIA requests; to track all FOIA requests from receipt to response to compile statistics for the Annual FOIA Report; to research and respond to FOIA requests; TO maintain case files to comply with records disposal requirements; and to maintain an administrative record to support any litigation.

ROUTINE USE: Requests are received, assigned a case number, filed in a case file, and routed to the appropriate office/organization for research and response. Requests that are transferred, receive a no records response, or granted in full are retained for 2 years and then destroyed. Requests that are denied in whole or in part are retained for 6 years and then destroyed.

DISCLOSURE: Voluntary. We seek your full name and postal mailing address so we may mail a response to you. Failure to provide this information may result in your request not being processed.



Exec: 0 ms.
FirstGov
This site is managed by the Bureau of Administration (A/RPS/IPS), U.S. Department of State. External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views contained therein.
This site is best viewed at 800 x 600 screen resolution. Disclaimers
Exec: 0 ms.