How timing is counted

Under the law

An agency must "determine within 20 days (excepting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal public holidays) after the receipt of any such request" whether it will comply (5 U.S.C. 552(a)(6)(A)(i)).

In "unusual circumstances" the agency may extend that time by written notice, and, apart from a further exception in clause (ii), the notice may not set an extension of "more than ten working days" (5 U.S.C. 552(a)(6)(B)(i)).

Extensions for "unusual circumstances"

The law lists three kinds of unusual circumstances: "the need to search for and collect the requested records from field facilities" or other separate offices; a "voluminous amount of separate and distinct records"; and "the need for consultation" with another agency or component (5 U.S.C. 552(a)(6)(B)(iii)). The agency must say so in writing. A request page on this site shows Extension invoked when USCIS's letter said it would invoke this extension. The tag reports what the letter said; it does not judge whether the extension was justified.

The clock runs from the agency's receipt of the request, which can differ from the day a requester submits it. A determination is a decision on the request; it is not necessarily the release of every record.

On this site

• The tracker counts business days: weekdays that are not federal holidays, the same kind of day the statute counts. Federal holidays come from OPM's published list.
• Filing day is day 0. Open requests count up to the snapshot date. Closed requests show business days to closure.
• Each request page also shows calendar days.
• The tracker does not calculate legal deadlines for individual requests or call any request overdue. Receipt dates are not always known from the requester's side.
• Every tracker page shows the snapshot date the figures come from, and a check after date. If you are reading after that date, the figures may be out of date.