How to increase your VA rating (the right way)

Most veterans looking to go up assume there is one form for it. There is not. There are four different paths, and they answer four different questions. Pick the wrong one and you wait months for a denial that had nothing to do with whether your case was real. Pick the right one and you are filing exactly what the evidence supports.

This is not about gaming a system. It is about claiming what is real, documented, and already connected to your service. Everything below points back to the rules the VA actually applies, so you can read them yourself.

Path 1: File an increase when a condition has worsened

This is the one everyone thinks of first, and it is the narrowest. A claim for increase only works when a condition the VA already rated has genuinely gotten worse, worse enough to meet a higher level in the rating schedule. The schedule is not a mystery. Every condition has criteria laid out in 38 CFR Part 4, and each rating percentage lists exactly what symptoms or test results it takes to reach it.

So the real question is not "do I feel worse." It is "does my current medical evidence show I now meet the next level up." If your knee was rated on range of motion and it bends less than it used to, you need a recent measurement that proves it. Feeling worse without a record that captures it does not move the number.

One caution, and it is a real one. Filing for an increase can invite a new exam, and an exam looks at the condition as it is today. If the condition has actually improved since your last rating, that exam can, in rare cases, support a reduction instead of an increase. The VA cannot cut a stabilized rating on a whim, and there are protections in 38 CFR §3.344, but the risk is not zero. So file an increase when you are worse, not when you are guessing. Our guides on preparing for a C&P exam and how rating reductions actually work cover both sides of this.

Path 2: File secondary conditions (the biggest untapped lever)

This is the path most veterans leave on the table. A secondary condition is a new disability that was caused or aggravated by a condition the VA has already service-connected. The rule lives in 38 CFR §3.310, and it is powerful because you do not have to prove the new condition traces back to your service directly. You only have to link it to a disability that is already connected.

The examples are everywhere once you look. Depression that grew out of chronic pain. Sleep apnea aggravated by a service-connected condition. Radiculopathy, the nerve pain that runs down a leg or arm, coming off a rated back or neck. Each of those is its own rating that then combines with what you already have.

What a secondary needs is a nexus, a medical statement connecting the new condition to the old one. That is the piece the VA looks for, and it is why so many valid secondaries get denied when filed without it. If you have never mapped out what your rated conditions might have caused downstream, that is usually where the real movement is. Start with our full walkthrough on filing a secondary condition.

Path 3: File for new conditions you have never claimed

Some conditions are not secondary to anything. They are service-connected in their own right, and you simply never filed them, or you filed early in your service and forgot the rest. Tinnitus, hearing loss, a joint that never got looked at, a mental-health condition you were not ready to name yet. These are direct claims, and the door does not close on them.

New conditions matter more than most veterans realize once you are already rated high, and that is a math point, not a motivational one.

Path 4: TDIU when your conditions keep you from working

TDIU stands for total disability based on individual unemployability. It pays at the 100 percent rate even when your combined schedular rating is lower, and it exists for one situation: your service-connected conditions prevent you from holding down steady, gainful work. The eligibility rule is in 38 CFR §4.16.

TDIU is not about how many conditions you have. It is about work. If your disabilities have pushed you out of the workforce or kept you from sustaining a real job, this may be your path even if your percentages have stalled. It has its own evidence needs, especially around your work history and what your conditions stop you from doing. We break it down in TDIU explained.

What every path has in common: current evidence

Whichever path fits, the same thing decides it. Current medical evidence that shows where you actually are today. The VA is required to give you the benefit of the doubt when the evidence is roughly balanced, a rule set in 38 CFR §3.102, but that only helps you when there is evidence on your side of the scale to begin with.

Two habits make the difference. First, get your worsening documented before you file, in a recent treatment record or exam, not just in how you feel. Second, describe your worst days honestly, not your best ones. Many conditions flare and settle, and the schedule is meant to capture the disabling picture, not the good afternoon you happened to have at the appointment. Underselling it is the most common way real veterans get rated below what they live with.

How to choose, and where to verify it

Ask what changed. If a rated condition got worse, that is an increase. If a rated condition caused a new problem, that is a secondary. If something was never claimed, that is a new claim. If any of it stops you from working, look at TDIU. Often more than one applies at once, and they can be filed together.

You do not have to guess in the dark. The rating schedule at 38 CFR Part 4 and VA's own overview at VA.gov lay out the criteria and how to file. For the specifics of your case, which conditions, which evidence, which path, work with a free VA-accredited representative or a Veterans Service Organization. They file this for veterans every day and it costs you nothing.