VERA/VSIP Eligibility Checklist for Federal Employees

Can you accept your agency’s VERA or VSIP offer?

1. 1. Check the current offer's coverage and dates

   Start with your agency's current announcement, since it defines the offer you can use. Record whether it offers VERA, VSIP, or both, along with the application and separation dates. Then check whether it covers your organization, occupational series, grade, and location (OPM's VERA and VSIP FAQ). If the notice leaves out your position or the offer you want to use, stop that branch and ask HR whether a revised notice applies.

2. 2. Confirm your VERA age and service route

   For VERA, ask your agency benefits office to verify your age and service. OPM lists two routes: age 50 with at least 20 years of creditable federal service, or any age with at least 25 years. A separate VERA requirement is at least five years of creditable civilian service, whichever route you use (OPM's VERA guide). Use personal calculations only as rough planning estimates, and ask the benefits office for a written age-and-service determination. If it cannot confirm one route and the civilian-service requirement, VERA is unavailable.

3. 3. Check the pre-application tenure condition

   Ask HR to identify the exact tenure condition under your agency's VERA authority and the application date that controls it. OPM's VERA guide requires at least 31 days of continuous agency employment before the agency first requested approval (OPM's VERA guide). An agency notice may state an OPM-specified period in the covered position. If your record does not meet the controlling requirement, VERA is unavailable.

4. 4. Check for VERA appointment and removal blockers

   Ask HR to confirm your appointment type and the status of any adverse action. A time-limited appointment or a final removal decision based on misconduct or unacceptable performance blocks VERA eligibility (OPM's VERA guide). If either condition appears in your record, get a written HR determination that the offer still applies before relying on the early-retirement offer.

5. 5. Match your retirement date to the VERA window

   Compare your proposed retirement date with the opening and closing dates in the agency notice. OPM guidance requires a VERA retirement to occur within the authorized window (OPM's VERA guide). The agency may announce a revised closing date or application limit. If your date falls outside the approved period, choose a date within the window or stop your VERA plan.

6. 6. Get the agency’s VERA decision in writing

   Submit the required application, then ask for written confirmation that your position, eligibility route, tenure, and separation date meet the offer. The agency decides which eligible requests to approve within its authority and limits (OPM's VERA guide). Even after every published condition is met, approval remains pending until the agency acts. Treat your planned retirement as an approved VERA retirement only after you receive written approval.

7. 7. Check VSIP eligibility separately

   Check VSIP separately with the agency notice and OPM's guidance. Confirm that your position is covered, you hold an appointment without a time limit, and you have three continuous years in the executive branch. Ask HR whether an exclusion applies, including being a reemployed annuitant, qualifying for disability retirement, receiving a decision notice of involuntary separation for misconduct or unacceptable performance, receiving a prior federal VSIP, or receiving a student-loan repayment benefit within the prior 36 months (OPM's VERA and VSIP FAQ). If a required condition fails or an exclusion applies, the VSIP branch ends; any VERA request stays subject to its own review.

8. 8. Confirm the permitted VSIP separation route

   Ask HR whether your VSIP can accompany a resignation, optional retirement, or VERA retirement. VSIP can support either retirement or resignation (OPM's VERA and VSIP FAQ), so missing the VERA test can still leave a VSIP-funded resignation available. Before you choose how to separate, confirm the permitted route in the agency notice and a written HR decision.

9. 9. Read every VSIP term before signing

   Read the agency's VSIP agreement before signing. Ask HR to explain the offered amount, payment method and timing, required separation date, and every condition tied to acceptance. Confirm that you can meet the separation date and understand the federal reemployment rule: returning to federal service within five years generally requires full repayment before your first day unless the repayment requirement is waived (OPM's VERA and VSIP FAQ). If a term is incomplete, conflicts with the notice, or cannot be met, pause the application and treat the payment as unresolved.

10. 10. Confirm how VERA and VSIP work together

    Get a separate written decision for each authority when your agency offers both. VERA provides the early-retirement route, and VSIP provides the incentive payment. The two can be used together, but approval of VERA does not automatically authorize VSIP (OPM's VERA guide). Ask the benefits office for a written summary of your separation date, VERA annuity estimate, VSIP amount and timing, and whether both approval windows align.

11. 11. Send HR one written list of open questions

    Gather the current notice, authority or offer letters, application instructions, agency retirement estimate, proposed separation date, approval messages, and any VSIP agreement in one place. Send HR one written list of every open issue about position coverage, dates, the VERA route, tenure, blockers, VSIP conditions, combined treatment, and final approval. Wait to commit to separation until every material point is settled in writing. This checklist is general information, not legal or financial advice.

12. 12. Keep career planning separate from eligibility

    While you wait for HR's answers, you can use FedUp.work to see which private-sector roles match your federal experience. This optional planning has no effect on VERA or VSIP eligibility or agency approval.

Questions about VSIP amounts and separation dates