Veterans' Preference in Federal Hiring

Your Rights · Updated July 2026 · 17 min read

Veterans' preference gives qualifying veterans an edge when a federal agency hires from outside its own workforce. It is a real advantage, but it is narrower than most people expect: it is not a job guarantee, it does not apply to every federal job, and it is a separate thing from the special hiring authorities like VRA and VEOA.

What veterans' preference is — and what it is not

Two terms come up constantly, so it helps to define them first. The competitive service is the main body of federal civil service jobs filled through open competition under title 5 of the U.S. Code. The excepted service covers federal jobs that are exempt from those competitive examining rules but are still part of the executive branch. Veterans' preference reaches both, in different ways.

Veterans' preference is a set of rules in federal law that gives certain veterans an advantage when an agency fills a job from outside its own workforce. The core definitions live in 5 U.S.C. 2108 and 5 CFR Part 211. Depending on the category, preference either adds points to a numerical rating or moves a candidate ahead of non-veterans on the list an agency selects from. It also makes it harder for an agency to skip over a veteran once that veteran is on the list.

Preference is not a job guarantee. It does not create a quota, it does not lower the qualification standards for a position, and it does not entitle anyone to be hired. A preference eligible still has to meet the qualification requirements for the job and still has to compete. Preference decides where a qualified candidate sits relative to other qualified candidates — nothing more.

Preference also does not reach as far as many applicants assume. OPM's guidance is explicit that it does not apply to internal agency actions: promotion, reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, and reinstatement of people already in the civil service are governed by merit promotion rules, and preference is not a factor there. The statute itself excludes applicants for, and members of, the Senior Executive Service (the senior leadership corps above the General Schedule), and OPM's guidance also excludes executive branch positions for which Senate confirmation is required.

Most retired members of the armed forces are not preference eligible for appointment purposes. Under 5 U.S.C. 2108(4), a retired member is not a preference eligible unless the individual is a disabled veteran or retired below the rank of major or its equivalent — and that exclusion applies except for the purposes of chapters 43 and 75 of title 5 (performance appraisal and adverse actions), where retirees are still treated as preference eligibles.

One more limit worth knowing up front: the rules described here govern executive branch jobs covered by title 5. Some federal organizations hire under their own separate statutory systems. If a job announcement does not mention veterans' preference, that is a signal to read the announcement closely rather than to assume preference applies.

Who qualifies for 5-point preference

Five-point preference goes to veterans discharged or released from active duty under honorable conditions whose service falls inside one of the qualifying windows in 5 U.S.C. 2108(1) and 5 CFR 211.102. In federal referral systems this category is commonly coded TP. The windows are specific, and being a veteran in the everyday sense is not enough on its own.

The qualifying service categories are: service during a war; service in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized; service during the period beginning April 28, 1952 and ending July 1, 1955; more than 180 consecutive days of active duty (not counting active duty for training) any part of which fell after January 31, 1955 and before October 15, 1976 — that is, between February 1, 1955 and October 14, 1976; service during the Gulf War period beginning August 2, 1990 and ending January 2, 1992; or more than 180 consecutive days of active duty (again, not counting training) any part of which fell in the period beginning September 11, 2001.

The end of that last window is worth understanding precisely, because it is a common point of confusion. The statute does not name a date — 5 U.S.C. 2108(1)(D) ends the window on "the date prescribed by Presidential proclamation or by law as the last date of Operation Iraqi Freedom." OPM's regulation, 5 CFR 211.102, fixes that as August 31, 2010. So in practice the post-9/11 window runs September 11, 2001 through August 31, 2010.

That surprises a lot of people who served after 2010. Post-2010 service usually qualifies through the campaign-or-expedition route instead — a campaign badge or expeditionary medal authorized for the operation someone served in. Not every medal counts as a campaign badge, so check the specific badge against the official list rather than assuming.

There is also a minimum-service rule that catches people, and the source documents do not agree on one of its dates. Under 38 U.S.C. 5303A, a person who originally enlisted in a regular component of the armed forces after September 7, 1980, or who entered active duty after October 16, 1981 without having previously completed 24 continuous months of active duty (or been discharged or released under 10 U.S.C. 1171), generally must have completed the shorter of 24 months of continuous active duty or the full period they were called or ordered to active duty. OPM's own hiring guidance states the second date as October 14, 1982 rather than the statutory October 16, 1981. If a separation date falls anywhere near either date, do not guess — ask the hiring agency's HR office or an accredited service officer to run the eligibility.

The exceptions to that 24-month rule matter as much as the rule. Under 38 U.S.C. 5303A(b)(3) they include discharge under 10 U.S.C. 1171 or 1173 (hardship and early-out discharges), discharge for a disability incurred or aggravated in the line of duty, and a compensable service-connected disability. OPM's guidance also states that the 24-month requirement does not apply to 10-point preference eligibles separated for a line-of-duty disability. If a discharge was short of 24 months, the exact narrative reason on the DD-214 matters enormously.

Who qualifies for 10-point preference

Ten-point preference is disability-based at its core. Under 5 U.S.C. 3309, preference eligibles described in 5 U.S.C. 2108(3)(C) through (G) receive 10 additional points on a civil service examination, while those under 2108(3)(A) and (B) receive 5 points. The 10-point group covers disabled veterans and certain family members.

Several things independently establish 10-point preference as a veteran: a compensable service-connected disability rated at 10 percent or more, or disability retirement from a military service department; a service-connected disability rated at less than 10 percent; award of the Purple Heart; or receipt of a nonservice-connected disability pension under laws administered by VA. A Purple Heart stands on its own — the SF-15 accepts an official citation, document, or discharge certificate issued by a branch of the armed forces showing the award, with no disability rating required.

Be careful with the letter codes, because they are not used identically everywhere. In the excepted service, 5 CFR 302.201 uses "CP" for disabled veterans under 2108(3)(C), "XP" for the derived-preference categories under (D) through (G), "SSP" for sole survivorship under (H), and "TP" for all other preference eligibles. In competitive-service and USAJOBS materials, OPM commonly splits the 10-point group further into CPS (compensable disability of 30 percent or more), CP (compensable disability of at least 10 percent but less than 30 percent), and XP (everything else at 10 points). What actually drives the outcome is the substance — whether there is a compensable service-connected disability of 10 percent or more — not the letter. Confirm the category the announcement's questionnaire asks you to select.

Some family members qualify for what is usually called derived preference. Under 5 U.S.C. 2108(3), this covers the unmarried widow or widower of a veteran who served during a war, in a campaign or expedition with an authorized campaign badge, or during the April 28, 1952 to July 1, 1955 period; the spouse of a service-connected disabled veteran where the veteran has been unable to qualify for any appointment in the civil service or the government of the District of Columbia; and, under narrow conditions, a parent of a service member who died in service or of a permanently and totally disabled veteran.

The conditions on derived preference are where claims fail, and the SF-15 spells them out. A spouse must currently be married to the veteran. A widow or widower must have been married to the veteran at the time of death and must not have remarried (annulments do not count as remarriage, but require separate proof). The parent categories generally require that the parent's spouse be totally and permanently disabled, or that the parent be unmarried or, if married, legally separated when preference is claimed. Read the questions on the SF-15 itself before assuming eligibility.

There is a separate category for sole survivorship preference, coded SSP. Under 5 U.S.C. 2108(3)(H) and 5 CFR 211.102 this covers a person discharged or released from a period of active duty after August 29, 2008 by reason of a sole survivorship discharge, and it does not require service during any of the qualifying periods listed earlier. Sole survivorship confers preference eligible status but no additional rating points — 5 U.S.C. 3309 assigns points only to the categories in 2108(3)(A) through (G). In practice that means placement ahead of non-preference eligibles without a numerical boost.

Preference is not the same as the special hiring authorities

Veterans' preference and the veteran hiring authorities are frequently confused, including by applicants who have been told they have "veterans' preference" when what they actually have is eligibility under a separate authority. Preference changes where a candidate ranks in a competition. A hiring authority changes which door a candidate can walk through. They are independent — a person can have one, both, or neither. Two terms below: "GS" refers to the General Schedule, the main federal white-collar pay scale running from GS-1 to GS-15; a "career-conditional" appointment is the normal permanent competitive-service appointment, which becomes a full career appointment after three years of substantially continuous service.

The Veterans Recruitment Appointment (VRA), governed by 5 CFR Part 307, lets an agency appoint a covered veteran without competition, but only to positions at grade levels up to and including GS-11 or the equivalent. Covered veterans, all of whom must have been separated under honorable conditions, are: disabled veterans; veterans who served on active duty during a war or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized; veterans who, while on active duty, participated in a U.S. military operation for which an Armed Forces Service Medal was awarded under Executive Order 12985; and recently separated veterans — meaning within the three-year period beginning on the date of discharge or release. The regulation states that three-year period may not be extended, and the appointment itself must occur before it ends. Upon satisfactory completion of two years of substantially continuous service, a VRA must be converted to a career or career-conditional appointment.

The Veterans Employment Opportunities Act (VEOA), codified at 5 U.S.C. 3304(l), is purely a door-opener. It says preference eligibles, and veterans separated from the armed forces under honorable conditions after three years or more of active service, may not be denied the opportunity to compete for vacant positions when an agency accepts applications from outside its own workforce under merit promotion procedures. ("Merit promotion" is the internal process agencies use to fill jobs from among current federal employees; a VEOA-eligible veteran gets to apply to those announcements when they are opened to outside candidates.) Critically, 3304(l)(3) states that the subsection "shall not be construed to confer an entitlement to veterans' preference that is not otherwise required by law." A VEOA-eligible applicant competes on equal footing — no points, no preference — and if selected receives a career or career-conditional appointment.

The 30 percent or more disabled veteran authority, at 5 U.S.C. 3112, is the most flexible of the three. It lets an agency make a noncompetitive appointment, leading to conversion to career or career-conditional employment, of a disabled veteran who has a compensable service-connected disability of 30 percent or more. The statute sets no grade limitation. In practice OPM's guidance describes agencies making a noncompetitive temporary appointment of more than 60 days or a term appointment — time-limited appointments authorized at 5 CFR 316.402(b)(4) and 316.302(b)(4) respectively — and then converting the employee to a career or career-conditional appointment without a break in service. Because there is no requirement that the job be announced, this authority often works best through direct contact with an agency's hiring officials or veteran employment program manager.

How preference actually plays out in the competitive and excepted service

Most competitive service hiring today uses category rating rather than numerical scores. Under 5 U.S.C. 3319, qualified applicants are sorted into quality categories, and within each category preference eligibles must be listed ahead of individuals who are not preference eligibles. On top of that, qualified preference eligibles who have a compensable service-connected disability of 10 percent or more are listed in the highest quality category, regardless of where their assessment would otherwise place them. The one exception in the statute: this does not apply when filling scientific or professional positions at GS-9 or above, or the equivalent.

This is why the 10 percent threshold matters more than the point count suggests. Under category rating, the points themselves often do nothing. What does the work is the move to the top category for veterans with a compensable disability of 10 percent or more, and the requirement that preference eligibles be listed ahead within a category. A veteran whose 10-point preference rests on a Purple Heart, a disability rated under 10 percent, or a VA pension gets the listing advantage within the category, but not the move to the top category.

Preference eligibles also get pass-over protection. Under 5 U.S.C. 3319(c), an appointing official may not pass over a preference eligible in the same category from which selection is made unless the requirements of 5 U.S.C. 3317(b) and 3318(c), as applicable, are satisfied. Under 3318(c)(1) the appointing authority must file written reasons for the pass-over, and under 3318(c)(2), where the preference eligible has a compensable service-connected disability of 30 percent or more, the authority must notify both OPM and the veteran of the proposed pass-over, the reasons, and the veteran's right to respond within 15 days — and OPM must verify that notification before completing its review.

Those protections are not unlimited. Under 5 U.S.C. 3318(c)(3), once a preference eligible has been passed over for reasons considered sufficient, the appointing authority is not required to give that person further consideration while selecting from the same list for a subsequent appointment to that position. And under 5 U.S.C. 3317(b), when an appointing authority has three times considered and passed over a preference eligible certified from a register for reasons considered sufficient by OPM, certification of that person may be discontinued, though the veteran is entitled to advance notice.

Preference also reaches the excepted service, which many applicants do not realize. 5 CFR Part 302 applies to executive branch positions not in the competitive service that are subject to title 5 preference requirements. Where numerical scores are used, agencies add 5 points for preference eligibles under 2108(3)(A) and (B) and 10 points for those under (C) through (G); where candidates are referred without ranking, agencies note the preference code. Part 302 excludes a list of positions from its appointment procedures — including attorney positions, Schedule A and Schedule C positions, positions of a confidential or policy-making nature, positions paid on a fee basis, positions paid at $1 a year, and several others — but even for those, the regulation directs that an agency "shall follow the principle of veteran preference as far as administratively feasible."

Documentation and how to claim preference

For 5-point preference, the core document is the DD-214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty. The SF-15 accepts any official document or statement from the armed forces showing that separation was under honorable conditions (honorable or general discharge), and notes that only the branch of service can certify that. As a practical matter, agencies generally want a copy that shows the character of service and the narrative reason for separation — Member Copy 4 is the one most commonly requested — because both the honorable-conditions requirement and the 24-month service exceptions turn on what that document says. Follow whatever the announcement specifies.

If a DD-214 is lost, the National Archives generally provides copies at no charge to veterans, next of kin, and authorized representatives for basic military personnel record information from federal, non-archival records. Military personnel records become open to the public 62 years after the servicemember leaves the military; those archival records carry fees. Requests can be made online through the National Archives' request system or in writing to the National Personnel Records Center.

For 10-point preference, the DD-214 is not enough. An applicant must also submit the SF-15, Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference, plus the specific proof the form calls for. For a compensable service-connected disability of 10 percent or more, the SF-15 (Revised October 2013) asks for an official document, dated 1991 or later, from VA or from a branch of the armed forces certifying that the veteran has a service-connected disability of 10 percent or more — or official documentation or retired orders showing retirement due to a service-connected disability. There is no 12-month recency rule on the form itself. Individual job announcements sometimes ask for a more recent letter, so read the Required Documents section rather than assuming either way. For a Purple Heart claim, an official citation, document, or discharge certificate issued by a branch of the armed forces showing the award is what is required.

Service members who have not separated yet are not shut out. Under 5 U.S.C. 2108a, an individual may submit to the appointing officer a certification that they are expected to be discharged or released from active duty under honorable conditions not later than 120 days after the date the certification is submitted, and be treated as a veteran, disabled veteran, or preference eligible for that competitive service appointment, provided they otherwise meet the definitions. The SF-15 lists the same 120-day certification as acceptable service documentation. It is a bridge, not a permanent substitute — the actual DD-214 is still required once it exists.

On USAJOBS, claiming preference happens in three places, and all three have to line up. The military service section of the USAJOBS profile records veteran status and disability information. The application questionnaire for each announcement asks the applicant to select their preference category. And the required documents section is where the DD-214, SF-15, and supporting VA letter get uploaded. A preference claim that is asserted in the questionnaire but not backed by uploaded documents by the closing date is routinely disallowed. Read the Required Documents section of each announcement, because the list varies by agency and job.

What is changing right now, and where to get free help

Two rulemakings are worth tracking. The first is already in force. OPM's "Reinvigorating Merit-Based Hiring Through Candidate Ranking in the Competitive and Excepted Service" final rule, published September 8, 2025, took effect November 7, 2025, with full agency compliance required by March 9, 2026. It implements changes authorized by the FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act and broadens the pool a selecting official may choose from. It preserves the veterans' preference architecture described above: preference eligibles listed ahead of non-preference eligibles within a quality category, preference eligibles with a compensable service-connected disability of 10 percent or more placed in the highest quality category (with the scientific-and-professional GS-9 exception), and existing pass-over procedures.

The second is not final and directly affects veterans already working for the federal government. OPM published a proposed rule on reduction in force on March 5, 2026, with comments due on or before May 4, 2026. It would rewrite the retention standing rules in 5 CFR Part 351. Under the current framework at 5 CFR 351.501, employees are ranked by tenure of employment, then by veterans' preference subgroup (subgroup AD for preference eligibles with a compensable service-connected disability of 30 percent or more, subgroup A for other preference eligibles, subgroup B for everyone else), then by years of service as augmented by credit for performance. The proposal would rank employees within the same tenure group by a "performance credit" score built from their three most recent ratings of record, and convert veterans' preference into a point adder on top of that score: an additional 5 points for preference eligibles with a compensable service-connected disability of 30 percent or more, and an additional 3 points for every other preference eligible. As of July 2026, this is a proposal only. No final rule has been identified, the current retention rules still apply, and it does not change how agencies hire veterans. Anyone in a federal job that may face a reduction in force should watch for a final rule rather than plan around the proposed numbers.

If an agency violates veterans' preference rights, there is a formal complaint path — and the timing is counterintuitive, so read it carefully. Under 5 U.S.C. 3330a, a preference eligible may file a written complaint with the Secretary of Labor within 60 days after the date of the alleged violation. If the Department of Labor is unable to resolve the complaint within 60 days of filing, the individual may appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board — but the statute says an appeal may not be brought before the 61st day after the date the complaint was filed, and may not be brought later than 15 days after the complainant receives written notification from the Secretary. In other words, there is a waiting period first, then a short closing window. Filing too early is as fatal as filing too late.

Free, accredited help exists for the benefits side of this, and nobody should pay for basic claim filing. VA states that the services an accredited Veterans Service Organization (VSO) representative provides on your VA benefit claims are always free. County or state Veterans Service Officers, available in many areas, are another no-cost option and often the fastest way to get a current disability rating letter to support an SF-15. VA-accredited attorneys and claims agents may charge fees for their services, which is a good reason to start with a VSO or a county service officer. For the federal hiring side specifically, most agencies have a veteran employment program manager or disability program manager who can answer questions about preference and the special hiring authorities at no cost.

Sources

Every figure above is drawn from these official sources. Benefit rates and thresholds change — check the current official page before you act.

• 5 U.S.C. 2108 — Veteran; disabled veteran; preference eligible (definitions)
• 5 U.S.C. 2108a — Treatment of certain individuals as veterans (120-day certification)
• 5 U.S.C. 3112 — Appointment of certain disabled veterans
• 5 U.S.C. 3304 — Competitive service; examinations; subsection (l), VEOA
• 5 U.S.C. 3309 — Preference eligibles; examinations; additional points
• 5 U.S.C. 3317 — Competitive service; certification from registers
• 5 U.S.C. 3318 — Competitive service; selection from certificates; pass-over procedures
• 5 U.S.C. 3319 — Alternative ranking and selection procedures (category rating)
• 5 U.S.C. 3330a — Preference eligibles; administrative redress
• 38 U.S.C. 5303A — Minimum active-duty service requirement
• 5 CFR Part 211 — Veteran Preference (govinfo)
• 5 CFR Part 302 — Employment in the Excepted Service (govinfo)
• 5 CFR Part 307 — Veterans Recruitment Appointments (govinfo)
• 5 CFR Part 316 — Temporary and Term Employment (govinfo)
• 5 CFR Part 351 — Reduction in Force, including 351.501 retention standing (govinfo)
• OPM — Vet Guide for HR Professionals
• Federal Register: Reinvigorating Merit-Based Hiring Through Candidate Ranking (final rule, Sept. 8, 2025)
• Federal Register: Reduction in Force (OPM proposed rule, Mar. 5, 2026)
• SF-15, Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference (Rev. October 2013)
• National Archives — Military Service Records and DD-214 requests
• VA — Get help from a VA accredited representative or VSO