FOIA Request

[ATCSUSNRET 61]

I recently did a FOIA request regarding my (now) spouses vaccination record, as she was not given anything back at her POE in Newark.  I filed on her behalf in Mid November and we got a response the day after Christmas.  Yesterday I got an email saying there had been an update to the claim/case number.  I logged into the first.uscis account and everything had been purged.  Following this, today I received an additional email.  I am attaching a screenshot.  This strikes me as a bit odd.  Also, how do I respond?  Do I reply to the email?  I am not certain what they are even referring to as far as the ENTIRE set of records.  Has anyone seen anything like this?

 

Thanks in advance

 

Seth

[OldUser 7,227]

Looks like FOIA response contained info about some third parties such as prior petitioners etc.

[ATCSUSNRET 61]

Prior petitioners?  Can you elaborate?  I was not able to view any files posted to the account either before or now.  

[OldUser 7,227]

10 minutes ago, ATCSUSNRET said:

Prior petitioners?  Can you elaborate?  I was not able to view any files posted to the account either before or now.  

Did anybody ever sponsor you for US visa or green card?

 

Essentially, what email is saying, USCIS processed your request and released info. But response contained personal info about somebody else. It cannot be given to you without permission from that person. So data got deleted, and you were told to destroy anything you might have downloaded.

 

They'll redact response and publish a new one, removing data about other people in response.

Edited Tuesday at 06:32 PM by OldUser

[ATCSUSNRET 61]

4 minutes ago, OldUser said:

Did anybody ever sponsor you for US visa or green card?

 

Essentially, what email is saying, USCIS processed your request and released info. But response contained personal info about somebody else. It cannot be given to you without permission from that person. So data got deleted, and you were told to destroy anything you might have downloaded.

 

They'll redact response and publish a new one, removing data about other people in response.

 I am the petitioner.  I filed the request on behalf of my spouse. There is no previous visa/greencard sponsorship outside of her K1 and AOS, both approved.  

[OldUser 7,227]

3 minutes ago, ATCSUSNRET said:

 I am the petitioner.  I filed the request on behalf of my spouse. There is no previous visa/greencard sponsorship outside of her K1 and AOS, both approved.  

She should have filed a request herself. They won't give info to you about her. Or she needed to sign release form DS-5505:

https://eforms.state.gov/Forms/ds5505.pdf

 

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 06:46 PM by OldUser

[ATCSUSNRET 61]

2 minutes ago, OldUser said:

She should have filed a request herself. They won't give info to you about her.

 

Yes I know that.  Let me rephrase.  She filed from her account with my assistance.  Her english isn't the best.  

[OldUser 7,227]

1 minute ago, ATCSUSNRET said:

 

Yes I know that.  Let me rephrase.  She filed from her account with my assistance.  Her english isn't the best.  

Ok, FOIA response might have included info about you that cannot be released to her without redacting. So response will be redacted and re-uploaded.

Edited Tuesday at 06:50 PM by OldUser

[ATCSUSNRET 61]

Thank you.  I appreciate it.  

[NorthByNorthwest 365]

5 hours ago, ATCSUSNRET said:

Prior petitioners?  Can you elaborate?  I was not able to view any files posted to the account either before or now.  

 

You can simply respond that you never accessed the records before they were removed, end of story.

 

It is very common in even basic FOIA requests that any info about third parties is redacted. In your case it could be something as simple as the name of the doctor administering the vaccine, or the name of the officer examining the record. The people processing FOIA requests have no way of knowing if a particular record originally came from you or someone else, so they just try their best to only provide info related to the requestor, and in this case they might have missed redacting some info.

[ATCSUSNRET 61]

16 hours ago, NorthByNorthwest said:

 

You can simply respond that you never accessed the records before they were removed, end of story.

 

It is very common in even basic FOIA requests that any info about third parties is redacted. In your case it could be something as simple as the name of the doctor administering the vaccine, or the name of the officer examining the record. The people processing FOIA requests have no way of knowing if a particular record originally came from you or someone else, so they just try their best to only provide info related to the requestor, and in this case they might have missed redacting some info.

We replied to the email and stated that very thing this morning.  Can't win them all I guess.  

 

Thanks