How to Qualify for Veterans Benefits

Veterans Benefits Guide For Dummies

Each time Congress passes a new veterans benefit law, it establishes specific eligibility criteria for that benefit. For the purpose of benefits, being a veteran is not enough. Whether you qualify for benefits, or certain types of benefits, depends on several factors:

Your length of service
Where and when you served
Your discharge characterization

Veteran benefits and length of service

Eligibility for most veterans benefits requires a minimum length of military service. Take a gander at this table. As you can see, to qualify for full Active-Duty GI Bill benefits, you have to serve for a minimum of 36 months. On the other hand, you could qualify for VA disability compensation or VA medical care with only one day of active duty. But don’t get too excited, because for disability or medical care, you have to meet a slew of other qualification requirements.

Veterans Benefits Basic Eligibility Criteria
Benefit	Minimum Service Requirement	Period of Service	Discharge Characterization
VA healthcare	Any	Any	Honorable, general, or VA determination
Military health insurance	20 years	Any	Honorable
VA pension	90 days active duty	Before Sept. 7, 1980	Honorable, general, or VA determination
VA pension	2 years active duty	On or after Sept. 7, 1980	Honorable, general, or VA determination
VA disability compensation	Any	Any	Honorable, general, or VA determination
Military retirement	20 years	Any	Honorable
Military life insurance programs	Any	Any	Honorable, general, or VA determination
Burial and memorial benefits	Any	Enlisted: Service on or before Sept. 7, 1980 Officers: Service on or before Oct. 16, 1981	Honorable, general, or VA determination
Burial and memorial benefits	24 months continuous active duty	Enlisted: Service after Sep. 7, 1980 Officers: Service after Oct. 16, 1981	Honorable, general, or VA determination
Active-Duty GI Bill	36 months active duty	Any	Honorable
Reserve GI Bill	After initial training	Any	N/A
21st Century GI Bill	90 days continuous active duty or 6 months total active duty	After Sept. 11, 2001	Honorable
Vocational training for disabled veterans	Any	Any	Honorable, general, or VA determination
Veterans job preference	1 day	Any	Honorable, general, or VA determination
Veterans small-business loans	Any	Any	Honorable general, or VA determination
VA Home Loan Program	90 days active duty	Sept. 16, 1940, to July 25, 1947; or June 27, 1950, to Jan. 31, 1955; or Aug. 5, 1964, to May 7, 1975	Honorable, general, or VA determination
VA Home Loan Program	181 days continuous active duty	Enlisted: July 26, 1947, to June 26, 1950; or Feb. 1, 1955, to Aug. 4, 1964; or May 8, 1955, to Sep;. 7, 1980 Officers: May 8, 1975 to Oct. 16, 1981	Honorable, general, or VA determination
VA Home Loan Program	24 months continuous active duty	Enlisted: Sept. 7, 1980, to present Officers: Oct. 16, 1981, to present	Honorable, general, or VA determination
VA Home Loan Program	6 years Guard/Reserve service	Any	Honorable
Homeless veterans programs	Any	Any	Honorable, general, or VA determination
Military retirement homes	20 years	Any	Honorable
Military retirement homes (100% disabled)	1 day	Any	Honorable, general, or VA determination
Military shopping benefits	20 years or 100% disabled	Any	Honorable
Military travel benefits	20 years or 100% disabled	Any	Honorable

Note: The table shows basic eligibility criteria only.

Veterans benefits and where and when you served

It seems that Congress just can’t make things simple. Just to complicate things, where and when you served in the military can have an impact on your eligibility for certain veterans benefits.

Take another look back at the table. To qualify for the VA Home Loan Program, you need at least 90 days of active-duty service if you served during the Vietnam War. However, if your military service was during the Gulf War, you must have at least 24 months of continuous active-duty service to qualify.

A member of the National Guard or Reserves must have at least six years of Guard/Reserve service to qualify (unless they otherwise qualify due to active-duty service).

Veterans benefits and service discharges

It's amazing how many people, including military people, think that there are only two types of military discharges (sometimes called characterizations): honorable and dishonorable. Didn’t anyone watch JAG on TV?

Military discharges come in two basic flavors:

Administrative: Administrative discharges are granted by the discharge authority, who is usually a high-ranking commanding officer.
Punitive: Punitive discharges can be imposed only by a military court-martial.

Both types come in various flavors as well, some of which affect your eligibility for veterans benefits. Basically, if you received a dishonorable discharge, a bad conduct discharge, or a dismissal from a general court-martial, you’re not entitled to veterans benefits.

If you received an Other Than Honorable (OTH) administrative discharge, or a Bad Conduct Discharge (BCD), or dismissal imposed by a special court-martial, you may or may not be eligible for veterans benefits.

If you received an honorable or general discharge, you’re eligible for most veterans benefits, assuming you meet the other qualifying factors for that benefit. A few benefits specifically require an honorable discharge.