How to Get a Veteran ID Card

Understanding Veteran ID Cards

First, let’s look at the purpose and significance of a veteran identification card. In short, a veteran ID card proves your veteran designation to anyone who needs to know about it. This isn’t just about having some kind of portable proof of your service, either: it’s also about how many locations offer discounts or free services to veterans (or other VA benefits) who will be able to check for your eligibility for those services and discounts. If you have questions or need help with veteran benefits, get in touch with All Veteran.  

You’ve probably seen offers for veteran discounts or other military benefits advertised before. In some industries, they’re more common. For example, restaurants and hotels in the United States may be among the most likely businesses to offer veteran discounts for those with a veteran designation, but you may also find stores and other businesses that do the same. The amount of the discount and how useful it is to you will depend on what each business is offering, of course. Still, the key point to remember is that your veteran ID card will likely be the evidence that they request in order to make sure they don’t give out those benefits to just anyone. Having your veteran ID offers that tangible proof and lets you take advantage of available benefits when they’re available.

As of 2022, veteran ID cards are given out digitally only, though physical cards from earlier years are still valid. This means that if you’re applying for a new card, you’ll be getting a digital version to work with. These cards work exactly the same as the previous physical versions, with the added benefit that they can be sent right to your email instead of through regular mail. 

Eligibility Criteria for Veteran ID Cards

How can you qualify for a veteran ID card? Simply put, you need to be a veteran service member of the United States armed forces. The US Veterans Affairs website lists the qualifications needed as follows: you need to have 

• Served on active duty, in the Reserves, or in the National Guard (including the Coast Guard) 
• Received an honorable or general discharge (under honorable conditions). 

If you meet both of these requirements, you will likely qualify for an ID card, though there is still an application process that must be completed to receive the card (see the below section on the online application process for more on that). 

Types of Veteran ID Cards

Other forms of veteran identification might include:

• Health identification card
• Military retiree cards
• VIP (Veterans Identification Proof) cards

How to Apply for a Veteran ID Card Online

To apply for your veteran ID card online, there are a few things you’ll need to have ready and a few things you’ll need to do.

Have the following things ready: 

• Your Social Security number
• A digital copy of your DD214, DD256, DD257, PHS1867, or NGB22 (your discharge document). This can be a scanned file and will be accepted in these formats: .pdf, .jpeg, or .png.
• A copy of a “current and valid government-issued ID” (driver’s license, passport, state-issued ID card, or other official photo ID card). 
• A color photo of yourself in a digital format (it needs to be saved as a .jpeg, .png, .bmp, or .tiff file). There are some specific requirements for this photo that will be discussed in the section below titled “Digital Photo Requirements.”

Once you have all the required documentation ready, and have a digital version of the applicable document from the second step above and your picture from the final step, you can visit the online portal to sign in and apply for your ID. You’ll need one of the following kinds of log-ins:

• Login.gov
• ID.me
• DS Logon
• My HealtheVet

If you don’t yet have any of those accounts, any service member can sign up for the first two options there for free from the same online portal. When you’re able to sign in, you can complete the entire application process online using the files and information that you’ve gathered.

Digital Photo Requirements

Much like a passport photo or other forms of official ID, the digital photo that you submit with your veteran ID application has to follow some specific guidelines. Since these can be a little complicated, this section will provide you with a brief summary of the requirements from the Veteran Affairs website. 

In short, your photo needs to be of your face and neck from the shoulders up, with a neutral expression and against a white or plain-color background. It also needs to be a somewhat recent photo (within the last ten years) and you need to avoid any distracting clothing or head covering that would obscure parts of your face or head.

Specifically, here’s what the requirements look like step by step from the VA website on veteran ID cards:

• Show a full front view of your face and neck (with no hat, head covering, or headphones covering or casting shadows on your hairline or face), and
• Be cropped from your shoulders up (much like a passport photo), and
• Show you with your eyes open and a neutral expression, and
• Be taken in clothing you’d wear for a driver’s license photo, and
• Be a square size and have a white or plain-color background (with no scenery or other people in the photo), and
• Show what you look like now (a photo taken sometime in the last 10 years), and
• Be uploaded as a .jpeg, .png, .bmp, or .tiff file

While you can take a picture matching these requirements on your own, it may also work to have a digital copy of a picture taken by a professional (or even a place that takes passport photos)

Processing Time and Fees

While processing times may vary considerably depending on multiple factors, it is common for the processing of your veteran ID application to take around 60 days, or roughly two months. 

There should not be any fees for the veteran ID card (VIC) application. This is a free service for qualifying veterans. 

Several things will be considered when you submit your application:

The reviewers will check the eligibility of your character of discharge, the validity of the ID you submitted, and the image you’ve submitted for the card. If all of these things are in order, you’ll receive an email with a report on your application status. If your application is approved, you’ll also get your digital veteran ID card over email as well.

Replacement of Veteran ID Cards

Fortunately, Veteran ID cards are difficult to lose because they are digital. As long as you have access to the original email that sent you the card, you can download a new version of it if you should lose your old one. However, in the case that something should happen which means that you lose your ID card, it is possible to request a replacement. To do so, all you need to do is send an email to vetidcard@va.gov. This will allow your case to be reviewed and should ideally result in a quick resubmission of the email with your ID card attached. 

Conclusion

While the process of getting your veteran ID card is not a complicated one, there are some specific things that you’ll need to remember in order to get your application successfully submitted and have the best chance of acceptance. This article should hopefully have given you the information that you need to make that whole process go by as smoothly and quickly as possible. However, if you still have questions about this or any other aspect of being a veteran, there are many places where you can get more help and information. If you need to learn more about veteran and military benefits that might be available to you, visit AllVeteran.com to get more help today.