USCIS Form I-589 Edition Date 05/16/17 Technical Restrictions

Jay Gairson filed this request with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services of the United States of America.
Tracking #

COW2020003023REQ
Submitted July 22, 2017
Est. Completion None
Status
Awaiting Appeal

From: Jay Gairson

Subject: Freedom of Information Request: USCIS Form I-589 Edition Date 05/16/17 Technical Restrictions

Email

To Whom It May Concern:

I request that this request be expedited for immediate review and production, because the public is currently being harmed by the inability to save or print the current version of Form I-589 (rev. 05/16/17). This is immediately relevant and newsworthy because this is a current event. Any delay in production of this information will harm the public interest and hamper the ability to notify the public of the issues regarding this form in a timely manner, which is necessary to help the public find alternatives to this form in order to submit an application for asylum.

I should be granted a fee waiver because I will publish this information online, including on MuckRock and AILA, for public consumption. I am a researcher and journalist for information regarding U.S. immigration law and policy. I am regularly published by the American Immigration Lawyers Association and other organizations, and present on these topics. I generally do not receive any income from this work and will not be using this information for any profit-based motive. My publications and history regarding immigration law and policy can be found online by searching for my name on AILA.org, AILA Agora, News meta-search engines, and other sources.

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:

All information regarding the current Form I-589 Edition Date 05/16/17 (rev. 05/16/17). This should include, but are not limited to, all digital, physical, written, or otherwise stored records or information. These records and information include, but are not limited to, memos, letters, contracts, forms, emails, notes, post-it notes, code, programming code, passwords, passcodes, phone records, recordings, database records, bug submittals, debug logs, public comments (on or after implementation), administrative remarks or orders or similar, technical information, database logs, database records, spreadsheets, etc. All potential locations for these records and information should be searched including subcontractor records, digital storage (remote, local, networked, etc), various boxes (inboxes, outboxes, sent mail, trash, spam, and all other folders), photographic, etc. And should include, but not be limited to, details on technical production, development, creation, planning, technical restrictions, debugging, and other information. Information should also include any detailed technical sheets on software used for the production of this form (e.g., Adobe LiveCycle) and any choices regarding whether the form should have technical restrictions on the ability to edit, save, print, or otherwise interact with the form. In other words, all information about the current revision (05/16/17) of Form I-589 should be provided in response to this request.

For reference purposes, attached is a copy of the Form I-589 that this request is regarding.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes. It is in the public interest to understand why the current version of Form I-589 (rev. 05/16/17) cannot be saved or printed. The inability of asylum applicants to save the application prevents individuals from preparing and editing their application in anything except a single sit-down session; the inability of asylum applicants to print the application prevents them from filing the completed form and applying for asylum. The purpose of the form is thwarted and the public interest is harmed by the inability to save or print the form. The public has a right to know and understand why the form cannot be printed or saved, whether the technical restrictions where an intentional choice, and why it is taking USCIS so long to correct the technical restrictions on Form I-589.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Jay Gairson, Researcher, Journalist, Attorney
Seattle, Washington

From: Jay Gairson

Subject: RE: Freedom of Information Act Request: USCIS Form I-589 Edition Date 05/16/17 Technical Restrictions

Portal

To Whom It May Concern:

I request that this request be expedited for immediate review and production, because the public is currently being harmed by the inability to save or print the current version of Form I-589 (rev. 05/16/17). This is immediately relevant and newsworthy because this is a current event. Any delay in production of this information will harm the public interest and hamper the ability to notify the public of the issues regarding this form in a timely manner, which is necessary to help the public find alternatives to this form in order to submit an application for asylum.

I should be granted a fee waiver because I will publish this information online, including on MuckRock and AILA, for public consumption. I am a researcher and journalist for information regarding U.S. immigration law and policy. I am regularly published by the American Immigration Lawyers Association and other organizations, and present on these topics. I generally do not receive any income from this work and will not be using this information for any profit-based motive. My publications and history regarding immigration law and policy can be found online by searching for my name on AILA.org, AILA Agora, News meta-search engines, and other sources.

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:

All information regarding the current Form I-589 Edition Date 05/16/17 (rev. 05/16/17). This should include, but are not limited to, all digital, physical, written, or otherwise stored records or information. These records and information include, but are not limited to, memos, letters, contracts, forms, emails, notes, post-it notes, code, programming code, passwords, passcodes, phone records, recordings, database records, bug submittals, debug logs, public comments (on or after implementation), administrative remarks or orders or similar, technical information, database logs, database records, spreadsheets, etc. All potential locations for these records and information should be searched including subcontractor records, digital storage (remote, local, networked, etc), various boxes (inboxes, outboxes, sent mail, trash, spam, and all other folders), photographic, etc. And should include, but not be limited to, details on technical production, development, creation, planning, technical restrictions, debugging, and other information. Information should also include any detailed technical sheets on software used for the production of this form (e.g., Adobe LiveCycle) and any choices regarding whether the form should have technical restrictions on the ability to edit, save, print, or otherwise interact with the form. In other words, all information about the current revision (05/16/17) of Form I-589 should be provided in response to this request.

For reference purposes, attached is a copy of the Form I-589 that this request is regarding.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes. It is in the public interest to understand why the current version of Form I-589 (rev. 05/16/17) cannot be saved or printed. The inability of asylum applicants to save the application prevents individuals from preparing and editing their application in anything except a single sit-down session; the inability of asylum applicants to print the application prevents them from filing the completed form and applying for asylum. The purpose of the form is thwarted and the public interest is harmed by the inability to save or print the form. The public has a right to know and understand why the form cannot be printed or saved, whether the technical restrictions where an intentional choice, and why it is taking USCIS so long to correct the technical restrictions on Form I-589.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Jay Gairson, Researcher, Journalist, Attorney
Seattle, Washington

From: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Subject: USCIS FOIA - Case status change

Email

USCIS FOIA - Case status change (https://first.uscis.gov/favicon.ico)
Jay Gairson,
Your USCIS FOIA/PA request COW2020003296 has been completed. A Final Action Letter with important information regarding your request has been electronically delivered to the myUSCIS account you created.
Please log into your account at https://first.uscis.gov to retrieve, view, and download the results. (https://first.uscis.gov)

If you have troubles logging into your account, please call the USCIS Contact Center toll-free at 800-375-5283.
For people who are deaf, hard of hearing or have a speech disability: TTY 800-767-1833.

Thank you,

Jarrod Panter
Acting Chief FOIA Officer

THIS RESPONSE HAS BEEN AUTO GENERATED. PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE.

From: Jay Gairson

Subject: RE: Freedom of Information Act Request #COW2020003023REQ

Mail

On July 22, 2017, this FOIA request was initially submitted. After three years of no response from USCIS, it was resubmitted on November 2, 2020. It was then assigned FOIA Request No. COW202003296. On February 25, 2025, more than four years later, the agency provided a response to the request.

While the request did ask for basic information of the form, it was also explicit in other elements regarding the form. Importantly, the original request included the following details:

" All potential locations for these records and information should be searched including subcontractor records, digital storage (remote, local, networked, etc), various boxes (inboxes, outboxes, sent mail, trash, spam, and all other folders), photographic, etc. And should include, but not be limited to, details on technical production, development, creation, planning, technical restrictions, debugging, and other information. Information should also include any detailed technical sheets on software used for the production of this form (e.g., Adobe LiveCycle) and any choices regarding whether the form should have technical restrictions on the ability to edit, save, print, or otherwise interact with the form."

Furthermore, it detailed, "The inability of asylum applicants to save the application prevents individuals from preparing and editing their application in anything except a single sit-down session; the inability of asylum applicants to print the application prevents them from filing the completed form and applying for asylum. The purpose of the form is thwarted and the public interest is harmed by the inability to save or print the form. The public has a right to know and understand why the form cannot be printed or saved, whether the technical restrictions where an intentional choice, and why it is taking USCIS so long to correct the technical restrictions on Form I-589."

The primary purpose of the original request was for information on why the requested version of the Form I-589 was locked so that users could not edit, save, print, or otherwise interact with the form. Despite that request, the response given was a copy of the Instructions and the Form itself, but nothing else.

The response is inadequate and does not address the purpose of the original request in any way whatsoever. Please provide a complete response showing all documents and information related to the form, in particular any information regarding why the form had unnecessary technical restrictions with regards to its use.

Thank you,

Jay Gairson