VR&E (Chapter 31): What It Is and Who Qualifies

VR&E used to be called Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment. It helps you plan a career, get training or school, find a job, or start a business.

If you can’t work right now, it can also help you live more independently. A Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor (VRC) works with you on a written plan.

VA’s eligibility page lists two starting points. You have a service-connected rating of at least 10%, and you didn’t receive a dishonorable discharge.

The law then adds a test about work. A counselor decides whether you have an “employment handicap” or a “serious employment handicap.”

• Rated 20% or more: you need an employment handicap. That means your service-connected disability substantially limits your ability to prepare for, get or keep suitable work.
• Rated 10%: you need a serious employment handicap. That means a significant limit on your ability to get or keep suitable work.
• A rating alone isn’t enough. The counselor decides entitlement after an initial evaluation.

• Discharged on or after January 1, 2013: the 12-year limit doesn’t apply. There is no time limit on your eligibility.
• Discharged before January 1, 2013: eligibility generally ends 12 years after the later of two dates. One is your notice of separation; the other is your first VA rating.
• The 12-year period can be extended if a counselor finds you have a serious employment handicap.
• Congress removed the limit for post-2012 discharges in Public Law 116-315, signed January 5, 2021. It is now 38 U.S.C. 3103(g).

You can start before you separate. You need a pre-discharge (memorandum) rating of 20% or more and an upcoming separation. Or you are awaiting discharge for a serious illness or injury from active duty.

Some service members go through the Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES). At an IDES site, a VRC meeting is required once you’re referred to the Physical Evaluation Board. Service members without a rating apply with VA Form 28-0588.

• Reemployment: return to your former job, with help for you and your employer.
• Rapid Access to Employment: find a job that uses the skills you already have.
• Self-Employment: help starting your own business.
• Employment Through Long-Term Services: education or training for work in a different field.
• Independent Living: help living as independently as possible if you can’t return to work right away. These services generally last up to 24 months.

VA says you may get up to 48 months of VR&E benefits. A counselor may approve more in some cases. Extra months are more available when you have a serious employment handicap.

The 48-month limit generally counts Chapter 31 together with other VA education programs you used. VA also says using VR&E doesn’t reduce your other VA education entitlement.

• Online at VA.gov, if you already have a VA rating.
• By mail with VA Form 28-1900 to the VR&E Intake Center, PO Box 5210, Janesville, WI 53547-5210.
• In person at a VA regional office.
• With help from a Veterans Service Organization (VSO). VSO help is free.
• If you’re eligible, VA invites you to an orientation. Next you meet a VRC, who decides entitlement. If you’re entitled, you build a plan together.

VR&E decisions use the same three review lanes as other VA decisions. You have one year from the date VA issues the decision notice.

You can ask for a Higher-Level Review (VA Form 20-0996). You can file a Supplemental Claim with new evidence (VA Form 20-0995). Or you can appeal to the Board (VA Form 10182). For a VR&E decision, follow the mailing instructions in your decision letter.

Applying for VR&E for the first time is a new claim, so ClaimScope points you to free VSO help for that step. After VA decides something, a ClaimScope review can flag possible rating increases or missed conditions that affect the 10% and 20% thresholds. If VR&E denied entitlement, it explains the review lanes.

General information, not legal advice.