Board of Veterans' Appeals
The Board of Veterans' Appeals (BVA) is an administrative tribunal within the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), located in Washington, D.C. Established by Executive Order on July 28, 1933, it determines whether U.S. military veterans are entitled to claimed veterans' benefits and services. The Board's mission is to conduct hearings and decide appeals properly before the Board in a timely manner. The Board's jurisdiction extends to all questions in matters involving a decision by the Secretary under a law that affects a provision of benefits by the Secretary to Veterans, their dependents, or their Survivors. Final decision on such appeals are made by the Board based on the entire record in the proceedings and upon consideration of all evidence and applicable provisions of law and regulation. The Board's review is de novo. In Fiscal Year 2022, the Board issued 95,294 decisions. This was down from the record of 102,663 decisions set in 2020, which had previously surpassed the records set in FY 2018 and 2019. This is in part, due to the number of increased Board hearings in 2022 – 30,089 which is an increase from 15,669 in 2020 when hearings were severely curtailed due to the COVID-19