Draft a FOIA request
The Illinois Freedom of Information Act gives you the right to city records. Describe what you want, and we'll draft a statute-ready letter routed to the right department's FOIA officer.
5 business days
The department must respond, extend once, or deny within 5 business days.
First 50 pages free
Black-and-white copies are free up to 50 pages; electronic records usually cost nothing.
Denied? Appeal.
You can appeal to the Attorney General's Public Access Counselor within 60 days.
chicago.fyi only drafts the letter — you review it and send it from your own email. Nothing is sent automatically. Save a draft to track it against the statutory deadlines.
Letter preview
Pick a department and fill in your name, email, and a description of the records — the letter drafts itself here as you type.
After you send
- The 5-business-day clock starts the first business day after receipt. The department can extend once, by 5 more business days, with written notice.
- If you're denied (or ignored), you have 60 days to file a request for review with the Public Access Counselor at the Illinois Attorney General's office — it's free.
- Denials must cite a specific statutory exemption. Vague "we don't have that" answers are appealable too.
- FOIA logs are themselves public — you can FOIA a department's FOIA log to see what others have requested.
Illinois FOIA basics
- How do I file a FOIA request in Chicago?
- Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (5 ILCS 140), you send a written request describing the records you want to the FOIA officer of the department that holds them — by email, mail, or the city's online portal. No form is required and you don't have to explain why you want the records. This tool drafts the letter and routes it to the right department; you send it yourself.
- How long does the city have to respond to a FOIA request?
- Five business days from receipt, with one allowed extension of five more. Commercial requests get 21 business days. If the deadline passes with no response, the request is considered denied and you can appeal to the Illinois Attorney General's Public Access Counselor within 60 days.
- Does a FOIA request cost anything in Illinois?
- Usually nothing. Electronic records must be provided free in the format requested, and the first 50 pages of black-and-white paper copies are free (15 cents a page after that). Agencies can only charge actual reproduction costs, never search time, for non-commercial requests.
- Do I need FOIA, or is the data already public?
- Check first — Chicago proactively publishes a huge amount: crime reports, permits, licenses, salaries, contracts, 311 requests, and inspections are all on the open data portal and browsable on this site without any request. FOIA is for what's not already published: emails, reports, specific case files, and internal records.