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How do you access US court proceedings/records if you are not a US citizen? I've tried using the Pacer website, however, they require a verification code, which is posted to you (if you live in the US) or a US bankcard for immediate access to searching. Is there any other website? How do non-us press access court proceedings for example?

garrettlynchirl
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I run CourtListener.com and RECAP and I hear this question from time to time. It depends a little on what kinds of data you're after. Some folks need court data in real time as it's published by the courts, other folks just want to follow particular cases, etc.

I think your options are

  1. A commercial provider. Maybe Lexis or Bloomberg? I admit I don't know these options particularly well, but it's probably an option.

  2. You could use our services, depending on your needs. In the RECAP Archive, we have millions of documents. We get a lot of these from journalists that use our RECAP Extensions, so if it's stuff that's in the news, it can work particularly well. We also do bulk downloads of court data for researchers, but I'm guessing that's probably not your use case.

  3. I think the final option is to use a gift card from Visa or another provider. I think if you have a friend in the US, you could buy one, send it there, and they could send you photos of the card to help you out. If this is to gain PACER access and if you need an American address, we could probably lend you our address (we're a non-profit, this is part of our mission, and not a big deal).

mlissner
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I don't know if they look at your IP and send you to a different site if you are overseas, but you should be able to click next through all the forms and register even if you are not from the U.S.

Putvi
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