Updated November 4, 2026

The Short Answer

The U.S. Department of Justice has announced that the federal firearm rights restoration portal will reopen on January 4, 2027, but it has not announced an exact opening time.

During the November 4 public opening, National Security Law Firm observed that the application portal became available at approximately 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time. DOJ reached its limit of 5,000 new applicants and closed the portal within only a few hours.

That does not mean the January portal will open at 6:00 a.m.

Applicants should not assume it will open at midnight, at the beginning of the federal business day, or at the same time as the November opening. The January phase will also be much smaller: DOJ plans to accept only 500 additional applicants nationwide.

National Security Law Firm will update this article if DOJ announces a specific opening time.

Check DOJ’s Official Application Page

What Has DOJ Officially Announced About January 4?

DOJ’s current schedule states:

  • The portal will reopen on January 4, 2027;
  • Only 500 additional applicants will be accepted;
  • Access will be first come, first served; and
  • The $30 application fee will begin.

DOJ describes this as another limited phase of the rollout—not the unrestricted public launch. According to DOJ, the January group is intended in part to test the effectiveness of the online payment system.

DOJ has not announced:

  • What time the portal will open;
  • Which time zone will control;
  • Whether the portal will open automatically or after a manual update;
  • How long it will remain available;
  • Whether applicants will receive advance notice;
  • How DOJ will announce that the 500-person limit has been reached; or
  • When the next opening will occur after January.

Applicants should monitor DOJ’s Federal Firearm Rights Restoration website and official application page for updated instructions.

What Happened During the November Portal Opening?

The November experience shows why January applicants should be prepared before the scheduled date.

DOJ announced that the first public phase would open on November 4, 2026, for 5,000 new applicants. DOJ did not announce an exact opening time in advance.

Based on NSLF’s direct monitoring, the portal appeared to become publicly available at approximately 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Within only a few hours, DOJ announced that it had reached the 5,000-applicant limit and closed the application site to new users.

People who successfully initiated an application were permitted to continue working after the portal closed. Those applicants received 30 days to complete and submit their applications.

People who had not successfully initiated an application before the closure were required to wait for the next public opening.

Read our complete report on what happened when the November restoration portal opened and how to prepare for January.

Will the January Portal Open at 6:00 a.m. Eastern?

Maybe—but no one outside DOJ currently knows.

The November opening provides a useful reference point, but it does not establish a rule or guarantee for January.

Several possibilities remain:

  • DOJ could open the portal at midnight Eastern;
  • It could open at approximately 6:00 a.m. Eastern, as it appeared to do in November;
  • It could open at the beginning of the federal business day;
  • It could open later while DOJ personnel monitor the payment system; or
  • Technical or administrative issues could delay the opening.

The safest conclusion is:

Be fully prepared before January 4 and monitor DOJ’s official website closely beginning early that morning.

Anyone claiming to know the exact time without a new official DOJ announcement is speculating.

While waiting for DOJ to announce the time, use our step-by-step January 2027 application guide to prepare your records, references, and application information.

Why the January Window May Close Even Faster

The November opening allowed 5,000 new applicants. Those places were exhausted within only a few hours.

The January phase will allow only 500 additional applicants—one-tenth of the November number.

Even if demand is lower than it was in November, the much smaller limit means the portal could close quickly. Applicants should not expect it to remain available for an entire day.

January 4 should not be the day you begin:

  • Determining whether you are eligible;
  • Searching for an old judgment;
  • Requesting a state criminal-history report;
  • Calculating when your sentence ended;
  • Identifying a missing disposition;
  • Choosing character references;
  • Drafting explanations of unfavorable facts; or
  • Deciding whether § 925(c) is the correct remedy.

Those steps should begin before the portal reopens.

Can a Lawyer Reserve One of the 500 Places?

No.

DOJ controls the application portal. National Security Law Firm cannot reserve a place, guarantee access, move a client ahead of another applicant, or force the portal to remain open.

Lawyers and private companies also cannot submit applications through an alternative system. DOJ currently requires applicants to use its official online portal, and there is no paper filing option.

Legal representation can help a client prepare to act promptly and accurately when the portal becomes available. It cannot guarantee that DOJ will make one of the limited openings available to that client.

What Appears to Secure an Applicant’s Place?

DOJ has not published a detailed technical rule explaining the exact moment when someone is counted among the 500 January applicants.

However, the November experience suggests that successfully initiating an application is important. After DOJ closed the portal to new applicants, it allowed people who had already started applications to continue working and submit them within their individual 30-day periods.

January applicants should therefore distinguish between:

  • Merely opening DOJ’s public webpage;
  • Clicking the application link;
  • Entering initial information;
  • Receiving the unique application link and PIN; and
  • Confirming that they can log back into the application.

The strongest indication that access has been established is receiving the unique application credentials and successfully returning to the application. That is an inference from DOJ’s November process, not a published guarantee.

What Should I Do When the January Portal Opens?

If you successfully obtain access:

  1. Save the unique application link and PIN immediately.
  2. Take a screenshot or secure copy of the confirmation information.
  3. Store the credentials in more than one secure location.
  4. Record the date and exact time the application was initiated.
  5. Confirm that you can exit and log back into the application.
  6. Calendar the 30-day completion deadline.
  7. Continue monitoring the email account used for registration.
  8. Do not submit the completed application until every answer and document has been reviewed.

DOJ currently warns that the Office of the Pardon Attorney may be unable to recover a lost application link and PIN. Losing those credentials after the limited portal closes could jeopardize the applicant’s ability to complete the application already started.

Do I Need to Submit the Entire Application Immediately?

DOJ currently gives applicants 30 days after initiation to complete and submit the application.

That means an applicant may not need to upload every record during the brief period when the portal is open to new users. However, applicants should not rely on the 30-day period as a substitute for preparation.

Court records, state criminal-history reports, military records, medical documentation, and proof of sentence completion can take longer than 30 days to obtain. Records may also arrive incomplete or conflict with one another.

Applicants should gather and review the necessary information before January 4 whenever possible.

DOJ also warns that:

  • Submitted applications cannot be edited;
  • Applicants generally cannot add documents after submission unless requested by the adjudicator;
  • Materially false statements or omissions can result in denial or other consequences; and
  • Failure to complete the application within 30 days may require the applicant to start over.

Read our complete guide explaining how to apply for federal gun rights restoration in January 2027.

Should I Obtain Fingerprints Before January 4?

No.

DOJ requires applicants to use its designated electronic fingerprint process. After the applicant submits the relevant portion of the application, Criminal Justice Information Services should send an email containing a case number and QR code.

The applicant must take that information to a participating U.S. Postal Service location.

DOJ says fingerprints collected through another process will not be accepted. Applicants can identify a participating post office in advance, but they should wait for DOJ’s case-specific instructions and QR code before being fingerprinted.

Read DOJ’s electronic fingerprint instructions.

Should I Pay Someone Who Claims to Have Early Access?

No person or private company can legitimately promise:

  • Early access to the federal portal;
  • A reserved January application place;
  • An application link before DOJ releases it;
  • Preferential treatment from DOJ;
  • Guaranteed approval; or
  • A specific government decision date.

Use only DOJ’s official website. Be cautious of websites that imitate government branding, request payment for a supposed reserved place, or claim to operate a separate federal filing system.

The official DOJ application fee is $30 beginning with the January phase. Legal fees, fingerprint charges, record costs, medical evaluations, and other expenses are separate.

NSLF Successfully Initiated Approximately 80 November Applications

National Security Law Firm successfully initiated DOJ applications for every portal-ready client we represented during the November public opening—approximately 80 people.

Our team monitored DOJ’s website and was prepared when the portal became available at approximately 6:00 a.m. Eastern. We had already begun developing client records, application responses, and supporting evidence before the limited window opened.

That preparation allowed our clients to initiate their applications before DOJ reached the 5,000-person limit.

Past performance does not guarantee that NSLF or any applicant will obtain one of the 500 January openings. The government alone controls access. But our November work gave NSLF direct experience with:

  • The time-sensitive opening;
  • The portal’s technical workflow;
  • The application questions;
  • The unique link and PIN process;
  • The 30-day completion period;
  • Required disclosures;
  • Document uploads;
  • Character-reference procedures; and
  • Post-submission fingerprint requirements.

We are using that experience to prepare clients for January.

NSLF Was Working on Restoration Matters Before the Portal Opened

NSLF’s experience did not begin on November 4.

Our attorneys began preparing and submitting federal firearm rights restoration matters more than a year before DOJ opened the public portal.

When DOJ announced the new procedures, Duane “DAK” Kees, the former United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas who leads our federal firearms practice, contacted the Office of the Pardon Attorney about NSLF’s pending matters.

On August 19, 2026, DOJ confirmed in writing that NSLF’s list of approximately 25 pre-portal clients was being reviewed and instructed the firm not to resubmit those matters through the public portal.

Those clients were separate from the approximately 80 clients for whom NSLF initiated applications during the November opening.

This does not guarantee approval, priority, special treatment, or a particular decision timeline. It demonstrates that NSLF was developing federal restoration matters before the public portal existed and has direct experience with the new program’s rollout.

What Can NSLF Do Before January 4?

Depending on the matter, NSLF can begin:

  • Determining why federal law prohibits the client;
  • Evaluating whether § 925(c) is the correct remedy;
  • Identifying five-year, ten-year, permanent, or status-based presumptions;
  • Calculating the legally relevant sentence-completion date;
  • Requesting court, police, probation, military, and administrative records;
  • Obtaining state criminal-history reports;
  • Identifying incomplete or inaccurate records;
  • Developing sworn explanations for unavailable documents;
  • Preparing application responses;
  • Organizing rehabilitation and reputation evidence;
  • Selecting and preparing qualified character references; and
  • Creating an application-ready file for the next portal opening.

You do not need to possess every court record before contacting the firm. If all you remember is the state, county, approximate year, and type of case, start there.

Our Federal Firearm Rights Restoration FAQ answers 50 questions about eligibility, records, the portal, DOJ review, and what happens after a decision.

How Much Does NSLF Representation Cost?

NSLF generally charges a $5,000 flat fee for federal firearm rights restoration representation under 18 U.S.C. § 925(c).

Certain matters involving additional legal or factual complexity—including some cases involving domestic violence, mental-health records, military proceedings, multiple prohibitions, or extensive criminal histories—require a $7,500 flat fee.

These legal fees are separate from DOJ’s $30 application fee and the costs of fingerprints, government records, medical evaluations, translations, or similar third-party expenses.

Learn more about federal firearm rights restoration lawyer fees.

Prepare Before the Opening Time Is Announced

DOJ may eventually announce an exact January opening time. It may not.

Either way, waiting for that announcement to begin preparing the underlying case is risky. The November portal filled within a few hours, and the January phase will contain only one-tenth as many openings.

Book a free, confidential consultation and tell us you want to prepare for January 4. Once retained, our team can begin developing the records and application strategy while the portal remains closed.

NSLF cannot reserve a January place or guarantee access. We can help ensure that you are not beginning a complex federal application from scratch when DOJ makes the next 500 openings available.

Book My Free Consultation Now or call (202) 600-4996.

Official DOJ Resources

This article will be updated if DOJ announces a specific January 4 opening time.

This article provides general information and is not legal advice. Federal firearm rights restoration is discretionary. Eligibility, timing, fees, portal availability, and potential outcomes depend on the individual facts and government procedures. NSLF cannot guarantee portal access, restoration, or a decision timeline. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. This website is an attorney advertisement.