Board of Veterans Appeals surpasses 92,000 completed appeals ahead of 92nd birthday

VA’s Board of Veterans Appeals is celebrating its 92^nd birthday on July 28, 2025. The Board is celebrating this milestone by surpassing 92,000 dispatched disability appeals for Veterans and dependents faster this year than ever before. The Board remains on track this Fiscal Year to issue the highest annual number of decisions in its history.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the foundation for the Board of Veterans’ Appeals through Veterans Regulation No. 2, which set out the procedures for filing claims—and a review of those claims on appeal. The previous patchwork system of appellate adjudication of claims for Veterans’ benefits was eliminated and all questions of entitlement to benefits were subject to a single appeal to the Administrator of Veterans Affairs.

Just three months later, President Roosevelt created the Board of Veterans Appeals (Board) on July 28, 1933. He directed the Board to work “directly under the Administrator” in order to give a fresh and final review on appeals from any VA denials of services or benefits. The Executive Order directed the Board “to provide every possible assistance” to claimants and to be the “final authority” for making decisions that would “be fair to the Veteran as well as the Government” and “resolve all reasonable doubts in favor of the Veteran.”

VA’s “duty to assist” and “benefit of the doubt” rules are enshrined in statute originated in the 1933 Executive Order that established the Board.

When VA later became a cabinet-level Agency in 1989, the Board was similarly realigned to report directly to the Secretary for this purpose. Whenever a Veteran or dependent appeals a benefits or services decision they originally sought to receive from VA, the Board is legally charged to resolve those appeals with “final” determinations on behalf of the Secretary. The Chairman is a Presidentially-appointed and Senate-confirmed position, and the law mandates the Vice Chairman and all other members of the Board “shall be appointed by the Secretary, with the approval of the President, based upon recommendations of the Chairman.” This unique requirement for Presidential approval has been in place since the Board’s inception in 1933 and reinforces the President’s commitment to Veterans and their dependents and survivors.

The creation of the Board was confirmation that VA would not forget those who sacrificed so much for all our freedoms. Thus, the Board’s primary mission was clear and simple: Fulfill the Nation’s promise to Veterans by upholding the values of justice and fairness, and ensure that those who sacrificed so much for this Nation would be cared for with dignity and respect.

“Under President Trump, the Board’s decision productivity is the highest it has ever been, averaging nearly 2,550 decisions issued every week, and reducing the number of pending Veteran and dependent appeals to 169,747, the lowest level since September 2020. We will continue working hard on behalf of Veterans,” said VA Secretary Doug Collins. “Veterans and VA beneficiaries deserve timely and accurate appeals decisions, and that is exactly what we will deliver to them.”

Over the past 92 years, the Board has held more than 746,500 hearings and issued more than 3,705,000 appeals decisions, each one representing a unique and individual story of service.

For more information on the Board of Veterans Appeals or the appeals process, visit https://department.va.gov/board-of-veterans-appeals/.