FOIA Requests: What They Need and Agency Deadlines

A valid Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request must be in writing, reasonably describe the records sought, and follow the agency’s published submission rules; there is no required form beyond that. Separately, the FOIA statute itself sets specific day-counts for how fast a federal agency must decide what to do with your request — 20 days for an initial determination, 10 days for an expedited-processing determination, and 20 working days for an appeal determination (DOJ Office of Information Policy, 5 U.S.C. § 552). Those counts are legal deadlines to decide, not a guarantee of how long you will actually wait for records.

This original record-reading guide is a general reading aid, not cited evidence. It does not depict a source record; the article text and source links provide the facts.

Key points

• A FOIA request must be in writing, reasonably describe the records sought, and follow the agency’s published submission rules — “The request simply must be in writing and reasonably describe the records you seek” (FOIA.gov), and it must also be “made in accordance with published rules stating the time, place, fees (if any), and procedures to be followed” (DOJ Office of Information Policy, 5 U.S.C. § 552).
• Any person can file: “Generally any person - United States citizen or not - can make a FOIA request” (FOIA.gov).
• About one hundred federal agencies each handle their own requests: “There are currently one hundred agencies subject to the FOIA with several hundred offices that process FOIA requests” (FOIA.gov).
• The statute requires an agency to decide on an initial request within 20 days (excluding weekends and federal holidays), on an expedited-processing request within 10 days, and on an appeal within 20 working days (DOJ Office of Information Policy, 5 U.S.C. § 552).
• These are deadlines to decide, not to finish producing records — actual response time depends on the request and the agency’s backlog (FOIA.gov, FAQ).

Request requirements

FOIA does not require special language, a specific form, or legal drafting. FOIA.gov states plainly: “The request simply must be in writing and reasonably describe the records you seek” (FOIA.gov, How to Make a FOIA Request). It adds that “There is no specific form that must be used to make a request” (FOIA.gov).

The underlying statute, 5 U.S.C. § 552 as published by the Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy, uses the same core standard, requiring that a request “reasonably describes such records” and be “made in accordance with published rules stating the time, place, fees (if any), and procedures to be followed” (DOJ Office of Information Policy, 5 U.S.C. § 552). That statutory text is the source of the “reasonably describe” standard FOIA.gov summarizes for the public.

Eligible requesters

FOIA.gov states: “Generally any person - United States citizen or not - can make a FOIA request” (FOIA.gov, FAQ).

Responsible agency

FOIA is not one central office. FOIA.gov explains: “There are currently one hundred agencies subject to the FOIA with several hundred offices that process FOIA requests” (FOIA.gov).

The statute’s deadlines to decide

The Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy publishes the FOIA statute’s text with a note that the page was “Updated January 21, 2022” (DOJ Office of Information Policy, 5 U.S.C. § 552), reflecting “all amendments to the statute made by the ‘FOIA Improvement Act of 2016.’ All newly enacted provisions in boldface type replace the strikethrough text” (DOJ Office of Information Policy, 5 U.S.C. § 552).

The statute sets out three separate day-counts for agency decisions:

• Initial request: an agency must “determine within 20 days (excepting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal public holidays) after the receipt of any such request whether to comply” (DOJ Office of Information Policy, 5 U.S.C. § 552).
• Expedited processing: “a determination of whether to provide expedited processing shall be made… within 10 days after the date of the request” (DOJ Office of Information Policy, 5 U.S.C. § 552).
• Appeal: an agency must “make a determination with respect to any appeal within twenty days (excepting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal public holidays) after the receipt of such appeal” (DOJ Office of Information Policy, 5 U.S.C. § 552).

Each of these is a deadline for the agency to decide — to determine whether it will comply, whether it will expedite, or how it will rule on an appeal — not a deadline to finish handing over the requested records.

Not a wait-time promise

It is worth being precise about what these day-counts do and do not promise. FOIA.gov, in describing what requesters can expect, does not repeat the statute’s 20-day figure at all: “The time it takes to respond to a request will vary depending on the complexity of the request and any backlog of requests already pending at the agency” (FOIA.gov, FAQ).

This overview also does not identify which of the roughly one hundred FOIA-covered agencies holds any particular record, describe any individual agency’s own published rules on where to send a request or what fees may apply (those rules differ agency by agency), or serve as legal advice on drafting, disputing, or litigating a request.

Source links

• DOJ Office of Information Policy — 5 U.S.C. § 552
• FOIA.gov — How to Make a FOIA Request
• FOIA.gov — Frequently Asked Questions