Reference
Reference library
The cited material the guides are built on. If you are trying to get a document, start with the guides — this is the layer underneath them, kept for readers who want the regulation rather than the summary of it.
| Section | Contents | Entries |
|---|---|---|
| Articles | Long-form explanations of the record itself — what it is, how it is requested, what the FBI does and does not publish about it. | 8 |
| Country guides | What a given destination asks for, in that country's own terms, with the legalization step it requires. | 23 |
| Research | Longer analyses assembled from primary sources, including where the published record is silent and what follows from that. | 4 |
| Glossary | The vocabulary, including the names other governments use for the same document. | 26 |
| Editorial standards | How this site sources, cites, dates, and corrects what it publishes. Including what it refuses to claim. | 8 |
| Updates | Changes to fees, forms, processing, and agency guidance, dated and cited. | 7 |
Every factual claim in this library is cited to the body that controls it — the Code of Federal Regulations, the FBI, the Department of State — and carries the date it was last reviewed. Where an agency publishes no figure, we say so rather than supplying one. That policy is written out in the editorial standards.
Looking for what to actually do? Start with the guides.