What is FARA, and where can you search its filings?

What does FARA require?

The Justice Department's FARA page states the purpose plainly. FARA was enacted in 1938. It requires certain agents of foreign principals who are engaged in political activities or other activities specified under the statute to make periodic public disclosure of their relationship with the foreign principal, as well as of their activities, receipts and disbursements in support of those activities. The page adds that this disclosure facilitates evaluation by the government and the American people of the activities of such persons in light of their function as foreign agents.

So the thing disclosed is a relationship: who is acting, for which foreign principal, doing what, and what money moved. It is a disclosure law and the page describes it as one.

Who runs it?

The page says the FARA Unit of the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section in the Department of Justice's National Security Division is responsible for administering and enforcing FARA. The legal authority is listed as 22 U.S.C. 611 and following sections, along with related statutes, advisory opinions and letters of determination, which the page's menu lists.

When must someone register?

The statute's registration section, 22 U.S.C. 612, says that, except as provided, every person who becomes an agent of a foreign principal must, within ten days after that, file with the Attorney General a registration statement, under oath, on a form the Attorney General prescribes. An agent who has registered must, within thirty days after the end of each period of six months following the filing, file a supplement under oath. The statute makes the obligation continue from day to day after the tenth day, and ending the status does not erase the obligation for the period during which the person was an agent.

We did not read the definitions of "agent of a foreign principal", "foreign principal" or "political activities", or the list of exemptions, so this article does not say who is covered. Those definitions are in the statute and the Justice Department's FAQ.

Where do you search the filings?

According to the page, registration statements are available online at fara.gov by using the available search tools. The site's menu lists "Browse Filings" and "Search Filings", a "Reports to Congress" section, and an eFile system for filers. The page also notes that the FARA Unit's public office is open on official business days by appointment, and that appointments are only necessary to review materials not currently available online.

An announcement on the page, dated 5 February 2026, says that from 6 February 2026 the FARA eFile system uses the Department's login platform with multi-factor authentication for all new and existing users. That affects filers, not people who read the public filings.

How is FARA different from lobbying disclosure?

The two laws are separate. The Lobbying Disclosure Act, covered in LD-1, LD-2 and LD-203 reports, is about lobbyists and the clients who pay them, with filings made to the Senate and the House. FARA is about agents of foreign principals, with filings made to the Justice Department. The two touch: an LD-2 must describe the interest, if any, of a foreign entity identified in the registration in the specific issues lobbied, according to section 1604(b) of the lobbying statute. A person can read both sets of filings for a name, and whether one person must file under both depends on the statutes' definitions and exemptions, which we have not summarised.

Why does it matter for company research?

FARA is a record of registered relationships. FARA filings are not among the sources named in OQRO's site description, which lists lobbying reports under the Lobbying Disclosure Act; the FARA site is the place for them. For contracts, see the contracts page.

How do you read a FARA registration?

Using only what the statute and the Justice Department's page describe, a registration is a sworn statement on a form prescribed by the Attorney General, and the supplements that follow it come every six months. Read four things in order. Who is the registrant? Which foreign principal is named? What activities are described? What receipts and disbursements are reported? Then read the dates. A registration is due within ten days after a person becomes an agent, and a supplement within thirty days after each six-month period, so a supplement describes a period that ended weeks before it was filed.

If a name does not appear when you search, that is not a finding about the person. Searching by registrant name and by foreign principal name are different searches, and the site has an FAQ section and a menu of search and browse pages.

What this does not tell you

A FARA registration says that a person registered as an agent of a foreign principal and reported activities. It does not mean the person did anything improper: the page describes the law as disclosure. Absence from the database does not prove a person is not an agent, because exemptions exist and we did not review them. The filings also describe activity as the registrant reported it. This article does not name any registrant and does not suggest that any firm is connected to any outcome.