VA Accreditation Reminder (March 2025)

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of General Counsel sent this bulletin at 03/05/2025 04:30 PM EST

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VA Accreditation Reminder

 

 

Dear Representative,

 

IMPORTANT REMINDER: The anniversary of the date that you were originally accredited by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is fast approaching. Please remember that, pursuant to 38 C.F.R. § 14.629(b), you must annually submit certain information to the VA Accreditation Program to maintain your status as a VA-accredited claims agent authorized to prepare, present, and, prosecute benefit claims before VA. If you have already reported the required information to us this year, please disregard this email.

 

To figure out what you must report, please review the following:

  • Your original date of accreditation is very important because it is the date that all of your reporting requirements are calculated from. 
  • To maintain VA accreditation, one year from the date of your original accreditation, and every year thereafter, you must provide our office with (1) your identification number and membership information for each bar, court, or Federal or State agency, in which you are admitted to appear, and (2) certification that you are in good standing in each of those jurisdictions. 38 C.F.R. § 14.629(b)(4). If you are not admitted to appear before any court or agency other than VA, you may satisfy this reporting requirement by providing a statement to that effect.
  • In your first year of accreditation, you must also provide certification that you have completed three hours of qualifying continuing legal education (CLE).   Every two years thereafter, you must provide certification that you have completed an additional three hours of qualifying CLE. The CLE certification must include the title of the CLE, date and time of the CLE, the CLE provider, and the attorney’s name. Please submit your CLE certification with your good standing certification, not separately. See id. § 14.629(b)(1)(iii)-(iv).
  • No particular form is required for these submissions. They may be mailed to Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of the General Counsel (022D), 810 Vermont Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20420, faxed to (202) 495-5457, or attached as .pdf files in an e-mail to ogcaccreditationmailbox@va.gov. Please only use one method of transmission.

For more information on VA accreditation reporting requirements, please see our frequently asked questions at http://www.va.gov/ogc/accred_faqs.asp as well as our main accreditation webpage at http://www.va.gov/ogc/accreditation.asp. 

 

Failure to submit this information may result in the suspension or cancellation of your accreditation. See 38 C.F.R. § 14.633(b). If you are unaware of your accreditation date, or are no longer representing veterans and would like to withdraw your accreditation (without prejudice), please contact us at ogcaccreditationmailbox@va.gov. 

 

When choosing a CLE program, you may want to consider whether the program addresses the PACT Act (Pub. L. 117-168) or the Appeals Modernization Act (AMA) (Pub L. 115-55). In February 2019, the AMA revised and modernized the VA disability claims and appeals system. The PACT Act, signed into law on August 10, 2022, expands VA health care and benefits for Veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances.

 

We thank you for your representation of our Nation’s veterans, and we look forward to working with you in the future.

 

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