The VA home loan program is available to non-veterans, too. This eligibility class includes certain active military borrowers, their families, and others.
Servicepersons on active duty
Active-duty servicepersons can be eligible for a VA loan after they have served 90 days of continuous active duty. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines are eligible.
Military spouses
Some military spouses can be eligible for a VA loan, too. If the serviceperson to whom the spouse is married is alive, the spouse can be eligible if the serviceperson has been officially declared missing in action (MIA) or a prisoner of war (POW) for at least 90 days. This eligibility is limited to one-time use. If the serviceperson to whom the spouse was married has died, the surviving spouse can be eligible if he or she hasn’t remarried and the serviceperson died on active duty, was a totally disabled veteran or was a veteran who died as a result of a service-connected disability.
Spouses who have remarried may be subject to more complicated rules. A consultation with a VA-approved lender may be required. A spouse who obtained a VA home loan with an active-duty serviceperson or veteran who subsequently died can be eligible to refinance that VA loan with a new VA loan at a lower interest rate through the VA Streamlined Refinance Program, called a VAIRRRL. The serviceperson’s or veteran’s death need not be related to his or her service in this case.
Children of active-duty servicepersons or veterans, whether alive or deceased, aren’t eligible for VA loans as a benefit of the parent’s service.
Reservists and National Guard members
Members of the National Guard and Reserves can be eligible for VA loans if they have completed six years of service in the Selected Reserve or National Guard and they continue to serve in the Selected Reserve or were honorably discharged, placed on the retired list or transferred after honorable service to the Standby Reserve or an element of the Ready Reserve other than the Selected Reserve.
Other people eligible for VA loans
Individuals who have completed service with certain federal government organizations also can be eligible for VA loans. Examples include cadets at the U.S. Military, Air Force or Coast Guard Academy, midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy, World War II merchant seamen, U.S. Public Health Service officers and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officers.
Eligible borrowers for the VA loan program may include:
Servicepersons on active duty
Veterans
Members of the National Guard
Reservists
Surviving spouses of deceased veterans
Cadets at the U.S. Military, Air Force or Coast Guard Academy
Midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy
Officers of the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration
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