How to Make a DVA Claim: A Step-by-Step Guide for 2026

What Changed for DVA Claims on 1 July of 2026

The claims system was rebuilt on 1 July of 2026. If you are lodging now, only one part of the old structure still matters to you.

One Act Now Covers Every New Claim

Veterans' service used to sit across three Acts. The Veterans' Entitlements, Treatment and Support (Simplification and Harmonisation) Act 2025 changed that. Two of the three shut on 1 July of 2026:

• The VEA, which covered veterans' entitlements, takes no further claims for compensation or rehabilitation
• The DRCA, which covered claims related to Defence, is shut on the same terms
• The MRCA, Australia's 2004 military compensation and rehabilitation law, now covers every new claim

That holds no matter when you served or the time the condition arose. You no longer have to work out which Act covers your service. One set of rules now covers the lot.

Claims You Lodged Before That Date

DVA may have received your initial liability or permanent impairment claim before that date. It is still decided under the Act that applied at the time. It keeps running on its original footing.

A condition either of the closed Acts already accepted carries across. DVA says accepted VEA/DRCA conditions are recognised within the MRCA. You don't reclaim a condition DVA has already accepted.

Who Can Make a Claim With DVA

Eligibility turns on two things: the service you rendered and whether the condition links back to it. Neither is assumed and both need evidence.

Your Service and the Link to Your Condition

You have to be a serving or former member of the Australian Defence Force. The MRCA also covers Reserve members, cadets, cadet officers and instructors. Some other groups declared by the Minister for Defence are covered too.

Being enlisted is not enough on its own. Your condition has to connect to service through what DVA calls a head of liability. In practice, that means you were on duty or doing something authorised or required by your duties or incidental to them.

A Diagnosis for Every Condition You Claim

Every condition on your claim needs a diagnosis, written by a health professional qualified to make it. One diagnosis does not cover a second condition, even where the two are related.

Mental health conditions are the exception that catches people out. A GP can treat you and manage referrals, and so can a clinical psychologist. The assessment a psychological claim needs comes from a psychiatrist, so ask for that referral early.

Which provider you see matters more than most veterans expect. We pick providers for how they write to what DVA assesses, not for where they rank in a search. Ask someone who reads DVA decisions for a living before you book.

Support does not wait on a claim. Open Arms provides free counselling to current and former ADF members and their families on 1800 011 046.

How to Lodge a Claim With DVA Step by Step

The lodgement itself is a short online process. What decides how the claim then runs is the work you do before you press submit.

Step 1: Get Each Condition Diagnosed

Start with your GP and list every condition you want to claim. Ask for each one to be diagnosed in writing, under its correct clinical name.

Take what you already have to that appointment. The more your GP can see, the better the diagnosis they can write:

• Old treatment notes from service or since
• Imaging reports such as X-rays, CT or MRI
• Audiology results if you are claiming hearing loss or tinnitus
• Letters from any specialist you have seen

DVA's approval is not needed for this. A GP treating you can assess your conditions without asking DVA first. We have seen veterans lose weeks waiting for a permission that was never required.

A vague note that says you report knee pain is not a diagnosis. DVA needs the clinical name of the condition, confirmed by someone qualified to name it.

Step 2: Set Up MyService Through myGov

You lodge online through MyService, which you reach by linking DVA inside myGov. DVA calls this the quickest way to lodge and track a claim.

If you are already a registered MyService user, you will not be asked for identity documents again. Your secure login does that job.

Step 3: Lodge Your Initial Liability Claim

Inside MyService, open Apply now and pick DVA's Initial Liability option. Want to see the screens first? DVA publishes instructions for applying in MyService.

Initial liability is the decision about whether DVA accepts your condition as service related. What that decision involves is set out in my guide to DVA initial liability. If you would rather not prepare that claim yourself, our Initial Liability Claims service covers this stage.

Attach every diagnosis, along with any reports or records you already hold. DVA's own advice on a smooth claim comes down to three things:

• Give complete and accurate information
• Attach any supporting reports or documents you hold
• Come back quickly when DVA asks for something

None of that is complicated. It is simply the difference between a claim that moves and a claim that waits.

Step 4: Reply Quickly When DVA Asks

DVA sets out what happens after you lodge, including the contact you should get. Once DVA registers your claim, it says it checks in at roughly 30-day intervals, by phone, email, text or letter. Some claims attract more contact and some less.

A delegate may come back with questions, or ask you to attend an appointment. Time spent waiting on that information counts towards how long your claim takes. The speed of your reply is one of the few parts of the wait you control.

If You Would Rather Lodge on Paper

You can still claim on paper using form D2051. You can download the form or collect one from a DVA office.

A paper claim needs the same diagnoses, the completed form and the identity documents DVA accepts. Each part of the DVA claim form is broken down in a separate walkthrough.

Where to Get Help Lodging Your Claim

DVA offers several ways to get help lodging a claim. The main options include:

• MyService for lodging a claim and tracking it online
• 1800 838 372 (1800 VETERAN) for claims and general enquiries, weekdays from 8am to 5pm AEST
• The Veterans' Access Network for help in person, with your nearest office on the location finder

DVA also runs a Claims Lodgement Assistance program. A serving member can book time on base with a DVA support officer. DVA's claims support page lists every option it offers.

Those routes all help you lodge. Preparing the claim is separate work and it is what we have done for over 10,000 veterans.

Veterans First Consulting is an independent, paid service provider. We are not part of DVA and we get no special access to it. 

What we do sits before lodgement: reviewing your service record and medical evidence, then building one claim that covers every condition it supports.

How DVA Decides Whether the Condition Is Service Related

This is the part most guides skip. It is also the part that changed most on 1 July of 2026. A delegate now works through the tests for liability in a set order.

• First, presumptive liability
• Second, whether a medical event happened on duty
• Third, the other heads of liability, usually a Statement of Principles

The order matters. If an earlier test accepts your condition, the delegate does not need to run the later ones.

Presumptive Liability Comes First

Presumptive liability lets DVA accept a condition on its list without you proving the link to service. It runs for claims lodged on or after that date. DVA puts the count at over 150 specified conditions.

The list is broader than most veterans realise. DVA groups it like this:

• At least 80 common service-related conditions, some of which follow on from one already accepted
• At least 40 more linked to particular exposures at work
• Twenty cancers for ADF firefighters, plus at least 30 further conditions for anyone posted to Point Cook in the years 1957 to 1986
• At least 30 covering the F-111 deseal and reseal workforce
• A group tied to abuse experienced in service

You don't apply for it separately. DVA assesses your claim that way when the condition is on the list, the diagnosis is in and the service criteria are met. Some conditions carry extra criteria such as onset timeframes or a minimum length or type of service.

It will not apply where the evidence clearly points to a cause outside your service. DVA says these claims can move quickly, but only when three things are true:

• You have claimed a condition covered by presumptive liability
• Every condition claimed has a diagnosis
• You sent everything DVA asked for at lodgement

Meet all three and the claim can be fast-tracked. DVA's claims processing page says it may then be decided within two weeks during the allocation stage.

The Second Test: Medical Event While on Duty

Where that first test fails, the delegate moves to whether a medical event happened on duty. This test covers injuries rather than diseases. DVA gives fractures, strokes and heart attacks as examples.

The delegate has to confirm you were on duty at the time. A disease, or an exposure that later caused one, falls outside it.

The SoP Framework Covers the Rest

If neither of the first two tests fits, your claim goes down the usual assessment path. In most cases that brings in the relevant Statement of Principles.

These are legislative instruments. Each one sets out the causes of a condition that the medical and scientific evidence supports.

This is where the wording of your claim earns its keep. The factors in a Statement of Principles are specific. Evidence that speaks to them directly is worth more than a general account of a hard posting.

The Standard of Proof Follows Your Service Type

Two standards of proof apply and which one you get depends on your service. DVA's guide to how a delegate assesses a claim sets both out. Peacetime service is assessed on the balance of probabilities, meaning the link to service needs to be more likely than not.

The reasonable hypothesis standard applies to warlike, operational, peacekeeping and hazardous service. That is the more generous test. Under it, a claim succeeds unless the link can be disproven beyond reasonable doubt.

This is one reason your service type is worth confirming before you lodge. The same condition, on the same evidence, can be assessed against two different bars.

What Happens Once DVA Accepts Liability

Acceptance is a milestone rather than the finish line. Two more steps sit between an accepted condition and money in your account.

The Needs Assessment Comes Before Any Compensation

The needs assessment is where a delegate goes through the benefits and support you may need. Within the MRCA, it can happen at any point after liability is accepted. No compensation is paid until it is done.

These talks usually happen by phone, and you can bring a support person. My guide to the DVA needs assessment explains how to prepare for one.

Permanent Impairment Is a Separate Claim

Lasting impairment from an accepted condition may lead to permanent impairment compensation. That is assessed as its own claim, with its own wait. Within the MRCA, permanent impairment payments start at a minimum of 10 impairment points.

Impairment points also drive treatment card eligibility, which is why the threshold matters beyond the payment itself. Where that line sits is covered in points needed for a Gold Card.

If your accepted condition has caused lasting impairment, our Permanent Impairment Claims service covers the next stage of the claims process.

Treatment You May Access While You Wait

You may be able to get treatment funded before a decision. The Provisional Access to Medical Treatment program covers 20 commonly accepted conditions. Eligible claims have to be lodged by 30 June 2027.

DVA sends you a treatment confirmation form, and your GP confirms your condition is one of the 20. My guide to how long a claim with DVA takes covers the wait and the other support open to you during it.

Mistakes That Hold Up a Claim With DVA

Most of the delays we see are avoidable and they cluster around four things. All four are simple to fix once you know about them.

Paying for a Medical Report DVA Did Not Ask For

Before you lodge, there is no need to book your own assessments, investigations or compensation reports. DVA asks for them when it needs them and tells you whether it will fund the cost.

DVA has published a warning about unsolicited medical assessments for this reason. Confirm DVA has asked for the assessment and approved it before you book or pay. An assessment arranged without that approval may leave you with the bill.

Leaving Conditions Off the First Claim

Veterans often claim the obvious condition and leave the smaller ones for later. Each condition added afterwards starts its own assessment. It needs its own evidence and its own wait to be allocated.

List every condition you can evidence in the first claim. You can also claim a condition that developed as a result of an accepted one. Some of those now sit on the presumptive liability list.

Going Quiet on a Request for Information

A claim waiting on information from you sits still. DVA counts that waiting time as part of how long your claim takes, so a slow reply adds to your own wait.

If a request arrives and you cannot answer it fully, reply with what you have and say what is still coming. At DVA's end, silence reads the same as a dead end.

Chasing Your Own Defence Medical Records First

This one costs people weeks before they even lodge. DVA already holds the medical documentation Defence kept on you. It reviews that alongside any new evidence when it decides your claim.

Reading your file is still worth doing for your own understanding. In my experience it does not change the decision, so do not hold up a claim waiting on it. My guide to accessing your DVA medical records explains how to request them.

If DVA Has Already Rejected a Claim

A rejection from years ago is not necessarily the end of it. The July 2026 changes opened a door that was shut before.

When You Can Lodge Again

Since 1 July of 2026, you may be able to lodge a new claim after a rejection. It goes in for the same injury or disease, within the MRCA. DVA sets three conditions and all three have to apply.

• Your earlier claim is fully finalised
• No appeal options remain and the time to appeal has expired
• You have new evidence that supports it

Presumptive Liability Counts as New Evidence

The definition of new evidence is where this gets interesting. New medical information counts. So does a changed Statement of Principles or a new witness statement.

So does the arrival of presumptive liability itself. DVA says the new head of liability counts as additional evidence, so a condition rejected under the old rules may be worth another look. 

That depends on the condition appearing on the list and your service meeting the criteria for it.

This Is Not the Same as an Appeal

A new claim is a different path from challenging a recent decision. An appeal runs through internal review and then the Veterans' Review Board, on the decision you already have.

Our appeals service covers that pathway. Which route fits depends on how old the decision is and whether your appeal rights have run out.

Where to Start This Week

Book the GP appointment and get every condition diagnosed properly, because everything downstream rests on that.

If you would rather not work through the liability tests alone, we can prepare the claim with you. Contact Veterans First Consulting and we will tell you plainly where you stand.