The VA has a decentralized system for handling FOIA requests. All FOIA requests should be addressed directly to any of the approximately 400 geographically-dispersed components that may maintain the records you are seeking.

If you know the office that maintains the records you are seeking, you should write directly to that office or contact the VA Central Office FOIA/Privacy Act Officer for the custodian of the record.

If you (or your authorized representative) are requesting copies of VA records pertaining to yourself (i.e., VA claims records, etc.), your request is a Privacy Act request. In accordance with Department of Veterans Affairs policy, all Privacy Act requests must be signed by the requester before we can take appropriate action.

Please scan a copy of your signed request, attach it to your email, and send to the appropriate VA FOIA Service mailbox.

Please DO NOT send personally identifiable information such as social security numbers or claims numbers via unprotected email as it puts your information at risk.

Before submitting a FOIA request, please visit VA's 1-Stop Customer Service Inquiry.

If you seek benefits records that are maintained by the VA, you must submit these records to the FOIA/Privacy Act Officer at the VA Regional Office serving the individual's jurisdiction, or to the FOIA/Privacy Act Officer of the Veterans Benefits Administration, VA Central Office. The VA Toll-Free number (800-827-1000) will connect you to the nearest regional office. Ready to request benefits records?

Find your local VBA regional office.

If you seek medical records, you may submit a FOIA request to the Director of the VA Medical Facility where the individual was last treated or to the FOIA/Privacy Act Officer at Veterans Health Administration, VA Central Office Ready to request health records?

Find your VHA medical facility.

National Cemetery Administration (NCA) handles records related to the construction and administration of VA cemeteries, the furnishing of Government headstones or markers, the administration of the Presidential Memorial Certificate Program, and the issuance of grants to States for State veterans' cemeteries.

Click here to see where to submit your request to NCA.

If you seek any other type of VA record, those records would be maintained by the VA Central Office.

Click here for a listing of our FOIA contacts in VA Central Office.

Records of veterans or are completely discharged (with no remaining reserve commitment), or who are retired or have died are available at the National Archives and Records Administration , National personnel Records Center, Military Personnel Records (NPRC-MPR).

Click here to go to NPRC-MPR's website.