What Is the Eligibility Criteria to Transfer My Post 9/11 GI Bill to My Child?
Q: I will be retiring in about a year and would like to transfer by Post 9/11 GI Bill to my child. What are the eligibility criteria for this to occur? And can my husband also transfer some of his benefits to her as well once retired?
A: No your husband will not be able to transfer any of his Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits to her once he is retired. The way Congress wrote the Post 9/11 GI Bill law, you had to be serving “on or after August 1, 2009″ to make a transfer request. So if he has not retired yet, now would be the time to make a transfer request.
As far as the eligibility requirement to access the transfer option, a servicemember has to have served for at least six years in the Armed Forces on a Title 10 order, of which at least three years must have been after September 10, 2001. Also required is agreeing to serve an additional four years. If the servicemember is within four years of being retirement eligible, then a lesser future service requirement is required.
Once you meet the eligibility requirement, then go to the TEB website and enter in the number of months you want to transfer in your daughter’s record. Once the transfer is approved, and it can take up to 8 to 10 weeks, then your daughter can go to the eBenefits website and submit VA Form 22-1990e. In return, she will get her Certificate of Eligibility which she will need when enrolling in school as a GI Bill student using Post 9/11 GI Bill transferred benefits.
If you both make a transfer request and both are approved before your daughter requests her certificate, then her submitting one request will work. However, if she gets her certificate between when the two transfer requests are approved, then she will have to request her certificate again to get the updated number of months she has left.