Immigrant Daily

Tougher FOIA Request Law

On Monday, President Bush signed a tougher Freedom of Information Act bill into law without any comment.  This legislation creates a system allowing the public to track the status of their FOIA requests.  The system is required to show when the request was initially received and the estimated date that the FOIA request response will be completed.  Furthermore the law provides a strong presumption standard that orders government agencies to release records unless such a disclosure would cause harm.  Additionally the law imposes a 20-day deadline on agencies for responding to FOIA requests.  If the agency fails to comply with the limits established by this act, it will not be able to charge any search fees for the FOIA request.  This law is a direct response to an order issued after 9/11 by former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, instructing agencies to lean against releasing information.

This is a very important new law for any immigrants that are trying to obtain documents from USCIS in order to proceed on their path towards normalization and citizenship.  As many of you know, these FOIA requests have been taking up to a year or more to get a response – the new 20 day deadline will hopefully speed this process along.  Sadly the provisions under this law will not go into effect for another year, but it is a definite step in the right direction.

You can read the full text of the law here.