USVI Office of Veterans Affairs and the Two Benefit Lists

Read this entry before any other Virgin Islands entry, because the territory organises its benefits in a way that no other jurisdiction in this catalog does and the organising principle is not a disability rating. The Office of Veterans Affairs publishes a summary of local benefits, most recently revised March 14, 2025, and it is split under two headings. "Local Benefits Provided to Virgin Islands Veterans 'Only'." Five items: the home and land loan; free tuition at the University of the Virgin Islands, UVI CELL and Department of Education courses; up to $5,000 in burial expense reimbursement; the opportunity to acquire a taxi medallion at the annual auction; and the Veteran designation on a driver's licence or territorial identification card. "Local Benefits Provided to Veterans Residing in the USVI." Eight items: the free burial plot; the homestead tax credit; the full property tax exemption for a veteran entitled to compensation for permanent and total disability; the ten and fifteen point civil service preference; free emergency ambulance service; one hundred percent reimbursement of off-island airfare for non-service-connected appointments; up to three free sets of veteran licence plates; and the disabled licence plate for a permanent and total designation. The definition that separates them. A Virgin Islands Veteran is a veteran who was a domiciliary of the Virgin Islands and who entered the armed services in the Virgin Islands, or who was a domiciliary of the Virgin Islands but entered the armed services in another jurisdiction while temporarily residing in that jurisdiction. Policy Letter 4 puts the same test in the words of 3 V.I.C. chapter 1 § 8b(c): bona fide residence in the Virgin Islands at the time of being drafted or enlisting, whether residing in the Territory or attending college. So it is about where you were from when you joined, not where you live now. A Virgin Islander who enlisted while away at college is covered. A veteran who retires to St. Croix after twenty years is not, for those five benefits, no matter how long they stay. One oddity in the published definition, because it will confuse anyone who reads it carefully: the summary's definition begins "Veterans who were domiciliaries of the Virgin Islands at the time of death." That phrase is inherited from the burial statute the definition came from and has been carried across to benefits for living veterans. It is not a requirement that you be dead. The office is the certifying body for all of it. Policy Letter 6 requires a Veteran Tax Exemption Eligibility Form signed by the Director or a representative before the Tax Assessor will act. Policy Letter 7 requires a Veteran Housing Finance Authority Eligibility Form. Policy Letter 1 requires a Veteran Eligibility Form for Vehicle Registration before the Bureau of Motor Vehicles will register a veteran plate. Policy Letter 2 says only the current Director may approve the UVI tuition waiver. Policy Letter 5 requires the office to verify eligibility before a taxi medallion bid is filed. Policy Letter 3 requires State Director approval for travel outside the VA Caribbean network and for emergency travel within it. There is no route around the office. A veteran who has not registered with it has, in practice, none of the territorial benefits. The office also does the ordinary things: it operates as the territory's veterans advocate, publishes press releases and newsletters, hosts VBA counsellor schedules, supports the Virgin Islands Veterans Advisory Council, and runs a military records request service. Its stated mission is to honour Virgin Islanders who wore the uniform "by continuing to advocate on their behalf and by enhancing their quality of life by making sure they receive all entitled services and benefits," and its stated vision is that Virgin Islands veterans be equivalent to all veterans across the nation as to federal entitlements, benefits and services. Contact: St. Croix 340-773-8387; St. Thomas and St. John 340-774-8387. A Women Veterans Coordinator now sits in the office. Act No. 9127 (Bill 36-0279), approved September 4, 2026, added 3 V.I.C. § 8d creating the position. The coordinator must be a veteran under § 8a and a member of the National Association of State Women Veterans Coordinators, and is charged with outreach and help applying for and appealing federal and territorial benefits for women veterans and their spouses, surviving spouses, children, parents, siblings, caregivers, domestic partners, fiancés, guardians and household members, with quarterly reports to the Director and an annual report to the Governor. One date to keep in mind about all of this. The seven policy letters are dated April 15, 2020 and each says it remains in effect unless changed or rescinded by the current Director. The benefits summary was revised March 14, 2025. Where the two conflict, as they do on how many licence plates a veteran may have, the office is the only body that can say which governs.