06/30/2008 USCIS Launches Online Service to Check Status of FOIA Requests

[Immigration Office]

USCIS Launches Online Service to Check Status of FOIA Requests


WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently launched the online FOIA Request Status Check service providing customers a quick and secure way to check the status of requests they have made under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Customers can use the online service anytime by entering their assigned control number to receive an immediate response on the status of their FOIA request. The customer will then receive either a ‘pending’ or ‘processed’ response. A pending response indicates to the customer the position of their request relative to all other requests in the same processing track. A ‘processed’ request indicates that the request was processed and the customer will be provided that processing date. USCIS will make daily updates to the status information.

Customers without Internet access can still obtain information on their FOIA requests by calling the USCIS FOIA Requester Service Center at (816) 350-5570 from 7 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. (Central Time).

As USCIS receives more than 110,000 requests annually for access to immigration records, the agency continues to improve its FOIA procedures and enhance processing times. For example, last year USCIS launched a new ‘Notice to Appear’ track that provides accelerated access of a large portion of FOIA requests from individuals, or their representatives, who have been notified to appear before an immigration court. That new track provides those customers quicker access to their Alien-File (‘A’-File) when it is requested through the FOIA process.