Welcome to the Social
Security Administration's
Freedom of Information
Act (FOIA)
Public Access Link (PAL)
The FOIA allows members of the public to request records from
Federal agencies. At the Social Security Administration (SSA), we are committed
to promoting transparency and openness in government while balancing the need
to protect certain information from release. We hope you will find this
site informative and useful and that it will give you a better understanding of
the FOIA and its implementation at the Social Security Administration.
The FOIA is centrally
processed at SSA in the Office of Privacy and Disclosure (OPD) with a subset of
requests processed by the Office of Central Operations, Division of Earnings
and Business Services (DEBS).
Within the PAL, you may
submit requests for deceased individual’s original Application for a Social
Security Card (SS-5) and Numident records and other records subject to the
FOIA.
PAL is not the
correct place to submit a request for the following:
- To request a living individual’s
original SS-5 or Numident record, please visit our FOIA page for
instructions.
- Earnings Request: To request earnings records,
please complete the SSA-7050 and submit it to the address
noted on the Form. Earnings requests are not processed under the
FOIA.
- Request for your own record: To request your own record
– e.g., claims file, medical records, etc. – please visit your local
office. Please use our office
locator to find the office that services your zip code.
SSA FOIA Reading Rooms
Before you submit your
request, search SSA’s publicly
available information, including our electronic Reading
Room.
To Submit a FOIA Request Online
Please Sign In with a ROME, Login.gov, or ID.Me
account to submit a request. Visit our FOIA page for
instructions on alternate submission options.
To Check the Status of a FOIA Request
If you are a registered requester with this online submission site
you can Sign In to view the status of your
request(s) or download responsive records once they are delivered.
If you are not a registered requester you can still check the
status of your request by clicking on Check
Request Status in the toolbar. Be prepared
to enter the tracking number provided by the FOIA Office to retrieve the
status of your request.