VA Disability Claims and Appeals Process Timeline
CCK Law: Our Vital Role in Veterans Law
“How long will my claim/appeal take?” is one of the most frequently asked questions by veterans filing claims or appeals with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The process can be highly complex, and a number of factors can affect timing.
In this article, CCK Law will describe the complex VA process, identify as many as possible of the factors that can affect a typical claim or appeal, and provide some recent data about VA’s goals and actual response times.
CLAIMS: How Long Do VA Claims Take?
Claims are the first step in the VA disability benefits process. Once a claim is filed, it will pass through several steps with VA.
Claim Received
After submitting a claim for disability benefits, VA will confirm that it was received. The way in which this confirmation occurs depends upon the method of claim submission. For example:
- If a veteran files a claim online, VA will send an on-screen message after the form has been successfully submitted.
- If a veteran files a claim online, they will see a notice from VA in their claims list within approximately one hour of applying.
- If a veteran sends their claim in by mail, VA will send a letter confirming that it has been received. This may take the longest, averaging 2-3 weeks to receive confirmation.
Initial Review
During the initial review process, a Veterans Service Representative (VSR) will review the veteran’s claim. This should update the veteran’s online claims status on VA.gov to “Under Review.” As long as VA does not need additional evidence from the veteran in order to proceed, the VSR will move on to the next step. However, in most cases, VA needs to request additional evidence from veterans before moving forward. As a result, it typically takes between 7-21 business days to complete this stage of the claims process.
Evidence Gathering, Review, and Decision
During the evidence gathering, review, and decision phase of the claims process, the VSR will likely do three things:
- Ask for evidence from the veteran, health care providers, governmental agencies, and others;
- Review the evidence; and
- Make a decision.
Similar to the previous step, if VA realizes it needs more evidence during the review, the veteran’s claim may return to this step more than once prior to moving on. Once all of the necessary evidence is received, it will be reviewed by the VA adjudicator assigned to the veteran’s case. In total, this stage can take anywhere from 3-6 months, and sometimes more or less time depending on the details of the case. During this time, the VA adjudicator is reviewing the veteran’s entire VA disability claim file, including the initial claim application, medical records, supporting documents and information, and Compensation & Pension (C&P) exam results.
After the VA adjudicator’s decision recommendation documents are reviewed, a final award approval on the veteran’s claim is made. This final approval is typically sent to a second tier reviewing authority for the ultimate approval. The next step involves preparing the finalized decision to be sent out to the veteran.
Preparation for Notification
After the decision is made in the previous step, VA will move into the preparation for notification phase. Here, VA will prepare a disability claim decision packet, including all aspects of the decision (e.g., the initial claim, the veteran’s history, facts of the case, decision outcome). Once completed, it will be mailed to the veteran.
Decision Notification Sent
The last step of the VA claims process involves the mailing of the decision as discussed above. Once it is mailed, veterans should receive this within 7 to 10 business days; however, veterans can always call 1-800-827-1000 and ask to speak to a representative about the status of their VA disability claim.
Claim Complete
At this point, the veteran’s claim has been completed! Nonetheless, if a veteran is unhappy with VA’s decision, they have the right to file an appeal, thus beginning the appeals process.
While the VA disability claims and appeals process can be lengthy, it is important to note that there are several situations in which veterans may be eligible to have their claims and appeals expedited. Unfortunately, there is no way to predict how much faster a claim will be decided when it is expedited, but VA employees are instructed to handle “priority” claims before “non-priority” claims. Nonetheless, expedited claims still enter a queue of other expedited claims, meaning veterans will still have to wait in a line.
APPEALS: How Long Do VA Appeals Take?
Understanding the VA Appeals Process
Note that there are multiple different “tracks” for appealing VA decisions under the Appeals Modernization Act (AMA).
If a veteran disagrees with VA’s decision, he or she has one year to appeal by choosing one of the following three lanes: the higher-level review lane, supplemental claim lane, or Notice of Disagreement lane (i.e. Appeal to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals). After appealing through one of those three lanes, veterans will then receive another decision. Specifically, both the higher-level review and supplemental claim lanes will yield additional Rating Decisions while the Notice of Disagreement lane will produce a Board decision.
Upon receiving a decision on their first appeal via one of these three appeal lanes, veterans have the option to file a subsequent appeal. However, there are some important stipulations to note:
- Higher-level Review Rating Decision. If a veteran receives an unfavorable decision in the higher-level review lane, he or she has one year to file either a supplemental claim or a Notice of Disagreement.
- Supplemental Claim Rating Decision. If a veteran receives an unfavorable Rating Decision in the supplemental claim lane, he or she has one year to file an appeal in any one of the three lanes.
- Board Decision. If a veteran receives an unfavorable Board decision, he or she can either file a supplemental claim within one year or appeal to the CAVC within 120 days.
- CAVC Decision. If a veteran receives an unfavorable decision from the CAVC, he or she has one year to file a supplemental claim, or 60 days to appeal to the Federal Circuit
Does VA Have Goals or Deadlines By Which to File Appeal Decisions?
VA does not operate under any mandated deadlines. However, for both the higher-level review and supplemental claim lanes, VA has set forth a 125-day goal for issuing decisions. Additionally, in the Notice of Disagreement lane, there are an additional three dockets veterans must choose from: the direct docket, evidence docket, and hearing docket.
VA has set forth a 365-day goal for issuing decisions in the direct docket, but estimates the evidence and hearing dockets will be subject to longer wait times. The hearing docket in particular may have an average wait time of 5-7 years. VA intends to provide regular wait time updates so that veterans can remain informed and up to date on the status of their claims and appeals. Overall, VA expects the appeals process timeline to drop from 5 years to 3 years in the new system, and eventually hopes to process claims and appeals within a 12-18-month timeframe.
VA steadily maintains that the amount of time it takes to review veterans’ disability claims depends on the following:
- The type of claim that is filed (see above)
- How many injuries or disabilities that are being claimed and how complex they are
- How long it takes VA to collect the evidence needed to decide on claims
How Long Does It Actually Take VA to Make Appeal Decisions?
According to VA’s website, as of August 2025, it takes VA an average of 94.8 days to finalize a decision on initial disability-related claims. If accurate, this would be a significant improvement over recent years, as even in 2024, it took VA an average of around 139 days to process a claim. Note, however, that this is only an estimate, and an actual claim may take much longer to process, depending on the specifics of the case.
Overall, VA seems to be issuing appeal decisions much faster under the AMA than under the previous Legacy system. This improvement may be due in part to the various appeal options available under the AMA. According to VA’s February 2025 Periodic Progress Report on Appeals, in 2024 about 90 percent of veterans filed in either the supplemental claim lane or the higher-level review lane for their appeals. Both of these options are intended to move quicker as the higher-level review lane operates on a closed record (i.e., no new evidence) and the supplemental lane only accepts new and relevant evidence which was previously missing. Furthermore, VA often indicates the evidence that was missing in a veteran’s case within the unfavorable decision. Therefore, veterans should theoretically speaking have guidelines for how to proceed.
In the same 2025 Progress Report mentioned above, VA claims that the Board of Veterans’ Appeals decided a little more than 64,000 claims in 2024, or about 10 percent of all appeals for that year. This percentage appears to be generally declining as the years proceed, with the alternative appeal lanes provided by the AMA (i.e. the supplemental claim and higher-level review lanes) potentially acting as “attractive alternatives” for veterans, per the report. A significant factor in this trend may be that veterans who appeal to the Board to request a hearing tend to experience some of the longest wait times at VA. In the 2025 report, VA provides the average number of days it took for Board claims to be processed through the end of 2024: for appeals in the Direct Review Docket, the average days pending (ADP) for an appeal was 551 days; for those in the Evidence Submission Docket, the ADP was 675 days; and for those in the Hearing Docket, the ADP was 750 days.
Concerned About Delays in Your VA Case? Contact CCK Law
Chisholm Chisholm & Kilpatrick (CCK Law) is a VA-accredited law firm—the largest in the United States—with more than 25 years of experience representing over 15,000 veterans and their dependents at the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and over 18,000 veterans and their dependents before the Department of Veterans Affairs. In addition to this extensive experience navigating VA’s challenge claims and appeals process, we have special tools as VA-accredited representatives (such as being able to directly access a client’s status and files in VA’s systems). We also operate under strict VA rules and ethical guidelines in regards to timing and fees. As a result of all these factors, we can help give veterans their best chance of an efficient and fruitful resolution to their case.
For a free case evaluation, call us at (800) 544-9144 or contact us online.
