There are no special forms required to submit a request, however, the Department of Veterans Affairs requires that your FOIA request:

• Be in writing and signed by the person submitting the request.
• Reasonably describe the records so that they may be located with a reasonable amount of effort.
• State your willingness to pay applicable fees or provide a justification to support a fee waiver. Click here to view the different types of FOIA requester categories.
• Include a daytime telephone number in case we need to contact you.
• 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.
  

*NEW INFORMATION!!

Effective on September 19, 2011, the Department of Veterans Affairs will accept FOIA requests electronically.  Most VA Central Office (VACO) Offices listed below are in the process of establishing an electronic mailbox.   In the meantime, the FOIA Service will accept electronic FOIA requests for any VACO FOIA Office that does not yet have a mailbox in place, and will forward your request to the appropriate office for processing.  

To find out if the office you want has an electronic mailbox, check the list below before you submit a new request to: vacofoiaservice@va.gov 

If you want records which are maintained outside of VACO, visit the following site and select the location you want:

http://www.foia.va.gov/FOIA_Contacts.asp