Why Hasn’t My Husband’s Post 9/11 GI Bill Benefits Transfer Request Been Approved?
Q: My husband requested to transfer his GI Bill benefits to me on 4 April. I have been checking the TEB website and my status states that the transfer has been submitted. In the meantime, should I fill out the VA Form 22-1990e? Or do I need to wait until the transfer has been approved? I start graduate school in July, if the transfer is still in progress, will the VA send me a check for the tuition that I paid upfront? Additionally, he is currently serving in Afghanistan and will be home in the next few weeks. Does he need to sign a form that states he will commit for an additional 4 years? What other steps do we need to take after the approval of the transfer? Thank you very much for your help!
A: If he submitted a transfer of benefits request on 4 April, it should have been approved by now, so there must be an issue with it. I would recommend calling the VA and ask them why it has not been approved yet. Many times, one of the VA’s Regional or State Officers can be more responsive as they have less of a workload than the Main VA Office.
As far as submitting your VA form 22-1990e, no, don’t submit it now. Wait until the transfer is approved. If you submit it before the transfer is approved, it will come back disapproved, because they did not find any benefits had been transferred to you (because the request has not been approved yet).
If your husband did not have at least four years left on his enlistment at the time he made the Post 9/11 GI Bill transfer request, that is most likely the issue – The VA is waiting until they see his additional service time commitment, however, most times they just deny the transfer and not sit on it.
The other reason is he might not have met the service requirement of having served for at least six years or there could be an issue with your record in DEERS, which is what the transfer of benefits process uses as a database of record.
Most likely the VA will not reimburse you for the money you pay upfront because you were not authorized your benefits yet for the period of time you were requesting reimbursement. After 8 to 10 weeks after the transfer request was submitted, you or your husband should have been contacting the VA to find out why the request had not been approved. That would have given you more lead time to get things corrected before starting school.
Once the request is approved (and he may have to do another request) then submit your 22-1990e VA form.
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