We are privately owned and not affiliated or endorsed by any government agency.

Get Started

VA Disability Claim Timeline for 2025: What Veterans Need to Know

Dealing with any bureaucracy can involve a distasteful amount of waiting and uncertainty. At some point, you’re bound to wonder “how long is this going to take?” Depending on what kind of answer you’re waiting for, delays can be the source of everything from annoyance to outright dread. While we can’t speak to every red […]

Dealing with any bureaucracy can involve a distasteful amount of waiting and uncertainty. At some point, you’re bound to wonder “how long is this going to take?” Depending on what kind of answer you’re waiting for, delays can be the source of everything from annoyance to outright dread.

While we can’t speak to every red tape labyrinth, we can offer a little bit of clarity regarding the VA claims process and the timelines for processing them. Armed with a slightly better understanding of the system and factors at play, you’ll likely find the wait for a verdict on your pending VA claim a little less stressful. 

“What Should I Expect?”: Understanding the VA’s Disability Claim Process

Obviously the most accurate and reliable source of information on VA processes is the VA itself. But it’s not unusual to go looking for answers for questions like these, read what the VA says on the subject, and still come away confused and feeling uninformed. 

If that’s what you did, you were certainly not the first, and you wouldn’t be the last. So, let’s do a quick review of some of the basics.

What Are VA Disability Claims?

For former service members who develop physical or psychological concerns as part of, or as a result of, their time in the service, the US government provides disability benefits. These benefits are managed and administered through the Department of Veteran Affairs (the VA). How the VA determines eligibility and assigns benefits looks something like this:

  1. A veteran files a claim indicating that some aspect of their health has been impacted by their service, which has led to difficulties in obtaining or maintaining sufficient employment.
  2. The VA reviews the claim to determine if a veteran is eligible for disability benefits and, if so, how much.
  3. The VA verifies the “service-connected” nature of the disability, either using the evidence supplied by the original claim, or by requesting additional information from the veteran.
  4. Once disability status has been established, and service-connected eligibility confirmed, the VA determines a “rating” to calculate how much the veteran will receive in their benefit payments.
  5. The VA notifies the veteran of the verdict, with instructions for any further actions the veteran will need to take.

It seems a fairly straightforward process. Anyone with hands-on experience, however, can assure you that it often doesn’t feel that way for the veteran awaiting approval. Part of that has to do with how long a veteran may have to wait for a verdict. 

Which brings us back to the core question: how long does all of this take?

Average VA Disability Claim Processing Times

We can’t give you exact figures, but we can give you some averages, and some frames of reference. 

According to the VA website itself, the average time from submission to decision as of November 2024 was/is 139.3 days (just under 20 weeks). While that figure may feel like a long time, it is relatively speedy for the VA (at least historically). 

As recently as 2011, the VA was still using a paper-based system, and the evidence-gathering step of the review process averaged 157 days to complete. How fast or slow the VA handles claims overall is impacted by a host of things, from an increase in the number of per capita veterans, to a broader set of recognized conditions, to even retroactively applied eligibility for previously denied claims (such as those related to Agent Orange). 

There are a lot of nuances here, and some of these factors could be considered the kinds of policy talking points worth writing a letter to a senator or representative about. But at a fundamental level, the individuals who work at the VA to process claims are exactly that: people. They can only accurately process claims up to a certain speed, and with all other things being equal, when the number of incoming claims exceeds the number of claims processed, it results in a backlog.

It’s safe to assume that the VA always has something of a rolling backlog (much the way an IT or maintenance department might always have tickets coming in that could be addressed). But even here, the VA currently reports that the numbers are lower than they’ve been in a while. 

As of December 2024, the VA disability claim backlog was clocked at just over 260,000. By comparison, earlier that year had seen a spike over 400,000, and the highest backlog in the past dozen years was 611,073 back in March of 2013. On the low end, from Fall of 2015 to roughly the Summer of 2020, the backlog was close to or below 100,000 claims.

What we’re saying is, the numbers can vary a lot, and can do so pretty quickly, but that fewer claims are waiting on deck than have been or could be. And with a little preparation, you can hopefully ensure that you can get a decision quickly.

Factors Affecting Your Claim Processing Speed

One of the reasons that a pending disability claim can be so nerve-wracking is that it’s financial support, and financial support that the veteran needs. 

While you can’t control or predict how long these things will take (and neither can we), you can anticipate bottlenecks, and grease the wheels a bit.

Common Reasons for Claim Delays

Again, a lot of things can impact how fast the VA reviews your claim and how soon they reach a decision. But of those, there are four that are the most common/most impactful factors:

  • The number of current VA claims in the backlog
  • Technical difficulties interrupting the VA’s systems or processes
  • The complexity of a given claim
  • The presence or lack of relevant information in the claim itself

The first two factors you have zero control over, and primarily impact how long it takes for the VA to start working on your claim. 

You can’t really do anything about the backlog, except to keep an eye on it (the Detailed Claims Data reports can offer you insight here, specifically the Claims Backlog). It can help warn you of a longer wait if the number of claims in the queue spikes. 

And with regard to technical difficulties, there’s no predicting or getting around those, at least on this side of things. Major outages, breaches, or failures don’t happen terribly often, but you won’t get any warning beforehand, and can come from seemingly unrelated sources. 

As for the other two, the complexity of your VA claim and how well you do at providing the needed evidence, those two directly impact how fast your claim can actually be processed, and that’s where you can help your chances.

Tips for Expediting the Claims Process

Speaking broadly, the claims that are processed the fastest have some or all of the following characteristics:

These claims process faster than others because they’re simpler, require fewer additional steps, and limit the back-and-forth between the VA and the veteran that often leads to unnecessary delays. We can also recommend starting with your highest-value claims (those for disabilities that qualify for higher ratings), and working from there, as that increases the odds of getting more relief faster.

Here’s a quick rundown of these strategies, so you know how they help:

  1. Rather than stacking all of your claims on a single application, separating them out increases the likeness of quicker decisions. It does mean a little extra paperwork for you, and you’ll probably have to complete separate C&P exams for each, but the individual claims will move faster, because there’s less to review. 
  2. Some claims are easier to get approval for than others. Presumptive conditions are the leading examples, here, where if you can prove you have the condition, it’s presumed to be service-connected by default. Some disability claims may not be strictly presumptive, but are common enough among veterans to minimize the need to qualify them as service-connected. And if you already have an approved disability, increasing the rating or adding a secondary condition is easier than qualifying a whole new condition.
  3. Finally, providing evidence is where you have the most control over the process. The more thorough and complete you can be, especially during the initial filing, the smoother everything will run moving forward. The Fully Developed Claims program is designed around this idea, facilitating faster processing by (ideally) providing everything that’s needed to prove both disability and service-connected status without the VA needing to request additional documentation. With any luck, the only times you hear from them will be about your C&P exam, and when your decision has been made.

What To Do After Filing: How to “Hurry Up and Wait” with the VA

Ok, you’ve prepared all the needed evidence, you’ve kept your claims simple and easy to review, and you’ve submitted everything via electronic filing. Now, all you have to do is wait.

Checking your claim status

Now that filings can be done online, so can checking your claim status, so we recommend keeping an eye on things. Adjust your notification preferences as you see fit, and be sure to check in regularly. The sooner you can respond to any correspondence, the sooner you’ll get a decision.

“Is My Claim Taking Longer than Normal?”

Here’s the best advice we can give on this subject: use the VA’s posted average as a benchmark. If you’ve gone past that number, it might be worthwhile to follow up. 

You can even keep track of that average as it changes while you wait, and compare those figures to get an idea of how things are going on their end (if the average was lower when you filed, but gets higher while you wait, you may be facing some delays).

Similarly, you can keep an eye on the VA’s claims backlog, like we mentioned above, to get a similar idea of how fast or slow the review process is moving.

Don’t Go into Your C&P Exam Unprepared

At some point during the process, the VA will reach out to schedule a Compensation and Pension Exam. Despite being an “exam” and our advice regarding preparation, this isn’t a test (per se). It’s a medical evaluation, performed by a medical professional authorized by the VA. So why the need to ready up?

A few reasons. This is one of the final steps before the decision, and can have a big impact on the outcome. More importantly, though, this will be a provider who isn’t familiar with you, your medical history, your experience with your condition, or potentially even the nuances of the issues involved with veterans and the VA’s process.

In other words, you need to go to the appointment ready to lay it all out for them, from what the VA is asking about, to just how bad things can be for you on your worst days. 

AllVeteran Is Here To Help

You’re not impatient for feeling anxious as you await a decision on your claim. Nor are you for wanting to know as soon as possible. You’re a human being, with basic needs like everyone else, and a few challenges that are unique to you. Access to support that might be necessary for you is as much your right as it is anyone else’s. 

So while you can’t control or predict the timelines, and neither can we, we are here to provide backup to you in your efforts wherever possible. Allow us to guide you through the process of receiving benefits you deserve. Begin today by taking our free medical evidence screening, at Allveteran.com

AllVeteran.com Advisors

With expertise spanning local, state, and federal benefit programs, our team is dedicated to guiding individuals towards the perfect program tailored to their unique circumstances.

Related Articles

x