Q: My boyfriend has lost all of his documents in a house fire. He is not a citizen.
He came as a child and had a temporary green card that was not renewed. How do we proceed?
A:
He can get a copy of his file by filing a FOIA request with the USCIS.
Thanks to a law called the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA, for short), persons wishing to see what information and documents U.S. immigration officials have collected on them—or on another person, with that person's consent—can request a copy of the relevant immigration file, also known as an “A file.” These FOIA requests can be critical in cases where an applicant’s extended history matters to the success of an application, such as in seeking naturalization, or where a foreign national is in removal proceedings and needs to see what evidence the government holds.
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