FARA Foreign Agents Registry Scraper

Extract active foreign agent registrants from the U.S. Department of Justice FARA database — the official registry of individuals and entities representing foreign principals in the United States.

About FARA

The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) requires individuals and organizations representing foreign governments, political parties, or other foreign principals to register with the U.S. Department of Justice. The FARA registry is a critical public resource for:

• Regulatory compliance research — Verify whether a firm is registered as a foreign agent
• Lobbying intelligence — Identify which firms represent which foreign interests
• Risk assessment — Monitor foreign representation in your sector
• B2B lead generation — Identify consulting firms specializing in government relations
• Investigative journalism — Track foreign influence activities
• Academic research — Analyze lobbying trends and international influence patterns

Features

This scraper extracts all active FARA registrants from the DOJ's official JSON API. Each record includes:

Field	Description
Registration Number	Unique DOJ registration ID
Agent Name	Company, individual, or entity name
Address	Street address (primary office)
City	City of registration
State	US state (2-letter code)
ZIP Code	Postal code
Registration Date	Date registered (ISO YYYY-MM-DD format)
Country	Foreign country represented (if available)
FARA Profile URL	Direct link to DOJ FARA registry profile

Filtering Options

• State Filter — Narrow results to registrants in a specific state (e.g., "CA", "NY", "DC")
• Name Filter — Search for agents by name (case-insensitive partial match)
• Registered After — Return only registrants registered on or after a specific date (YYYY-MM-DD)
• Max Results — Limit the number of records returned (default: 5,000; 0 = unlimited)

How to scrape FARA foreign agent data

Step 1: Choose your filters

Open the actor configuration screen and decide which registrants you want:

• Leave all fields blank for all active registrants (default behavior)
• Set State Filter to "DC" to get Washington D.C.-based agents
• Set Name Filter to "Consulting" to find consulting firms
• Set Registered After to "2026-01-01" to get recent registrations

Step 2: Run the actor

Click "Start" or "Run". The actor will:

1. Fetch the DOJ FARA active registrants API
2. Apply your filters
3. Extract structured data into the dataset

Typical runtime: 30-60 seconds for the full registry (~5,000+ registrants).

Step 3: Download your data

Results are available in multiple formats:

• Table view — Browse in the Apify UI
• JSON download — Programmatic access
• CSV export — Open in Excel/Google Sheets
• API endpoint — Integrate into your workflow

Example: Scraping DC-based foreign agents

Input configuration:

{
  "stateFilter": "DC",
  "nameFilter": "",
  "registeredAfter": "",
  "maxResults": 0
}

Output (sample record):

{
  "registrationNumber": 7739,
  "name": "RP&B Consulting",
  "address": "1000 Vermont Avenue NW, Suite 400",
  "city": "Washington",
  "state": "DC",
  "zip": "20005",
  "registrationDate": "2026-06-16",
  "country": "Various",
  "faraProfileUrl": "https://efile.fara.gov/ords/fara/f?p=212:200"
}

Pricing

$0.003 per record — Cost-effective access to FARA data. A typical full-registry scrape (5,000+ registrants) costs ~$15. This is a fraction of manual research time and significantly cheaper than purchasing compiled FARA datasets from third-party vendors.

Example pricing scenarios:

• Scrape all active registrants (5,000 records): **$15**
• Filter DC-based agents (1,500 records): **$4.50**
• Filter recent registrations (last 30 days, 50 records): **$0.15**

Data Format & Integration

JSON Output

Each record is valid JSON and includes all fields above. Perfect for:

• Database imports
• API integrations
• Data analysis in Python/R
• Building compliance dashboards

CSV Export

Results can be exported as CSV for spreadsheet analysis:

registrationNumber,name,address,city,state,zip,registrationDate,country,faraProfileUrl
7739,RP&B Consulting,1000 Vermont Avenue NW Suite 400,Washington,DC,20005,2026-06-16,Various,https://efile.fara.gov/...

Webhook Integration

Set up webhooks to automatically send results to your pipeline when the actor completes.

Other scrapers

Explore related Apify actors from seatsignal for comprehensive U.S. government data:

• Senate Lobbying Disclosure Scraper — LDA filings, lobbyist details, client associations
• SEC EDGAR Scraper — Corporate filings, executive compensation, acquisition history
• House Clerk Visitor Logs Scraper — Congress visitor records, meeting history
• GSA Contract Database Scraper — Federal contract awards and spending

FAQ

Q: How often is the FARA registry updated?
A: FARA is updated in real time as registrants file. This actor scrapes the live API, so you'll always get current data.

Q: Can I scrape historical FARA data (registrations from years past)?
A: This actor returns only active registrants. For historical data, you may need to contact the DOJ's FARA office directly or use their advanced search tools at efile.fara.gov.

Q: What's the difference between FARA and the Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA)?
A: FARA tracks foreign agents (representing foreign governments/entities). LDA tracks domestic lobbying (representing clients inside the US). A firm may file both if they represent both foreign and domestic clients.

Q: Can I use this data for commercial purposes?
A: Yes. FARA data is public information released by the DOJ. This scraper accesses only publicly available data. Check FARA's terms and consult legal counsel for your specific use case.

Q: What happens if registration details change mid-year?
A: This scraper returns the current registration snapshot from the live API. Historical changes are maintained by the DOJ — contact them for amendment history.

Q: Can I filter by foreign country represented?
A: The current version returns country info when available, but doesn't filter by it. Contact support if you need country-based filtering.

Legal Notice

This actor scrapes publicly available data from the U.S. Department of Justice FARA registry. The data is in the public domain and available for research, journalism, and compliance purposes. By using this actor, you agree to respect the terms of use of the DOJ website and use the data responsibly.

Do not use this data for:

• Harassment or targeting of individuals
• Unauthorized commercial resale without attribution
• Violation of any applicable laws or regulations

For questions or issues, contact support@seatsignal.com.

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