FOIA deadline calculator: 20 working days

When is a response to a federal Freedom of Information Act request due? Enter the day the request was received. The answer is the 20th working day after it, with weekends and federal holidays left out. What you enter stays in your browser.

How the 20 working days are counted

The Freedom of Information Act gives an agency 20 days "excepting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal public holidays" after the receipt of a request to decide whether to comply (5 U.S.C. 552(a)(6)(A)(i)). The day of receipt is not one of them, so a request received on a Monday is due on the Monday four weeks later, one working day later for each federal holiday on a weekday in between.

When the clock starts, pauses and stretches

• Starts when the right part of the agency receives the request, and no later than ten days after any office the agency designates to receive FOIA requests first got it.
• Pauses only in two cases: once, while the agency waits for information it asked the requester for, and while it clarifies fees with the requester.
• Stretches by up to ten more working days in unusual circumstances, with written notice to the requester.

Requests on a monday.com board

A team that tracks requests on monday.com can use Stale & SLA to count how long each request sits in each status in working days, with US federal holidays left out, and to be alerted when a request goes quiet. See working days and holidays on monday.com, count the days between two dates with the working days calculator, or try the app on sample data.

Frequently asked

Is the day the request arrives counted?

No. The law gives 20 days after the receipt, so the count starts on the next working day. A request that arrives on a Saturday is counted from Monday.

Which holidays are left out?

The federal holidays OPM publishes, with a Saturday holiday observed on the Friday before and a Sunday one on the Monday after. For 2026 to 2028 this calculator matches OPM's schedule date for date.

When can an agency take longer?

In unusual circumstances, by written notice to the requester, for up to ten more working days. Beyond that the agency has to offer the requester a chance to narrow the request or agree to another time frame.

Is this legal advice?

No. It counts days. When the clock starts can depend on which office received the request and on the agency's own regulations, so check those for a request that matters.