Does National Guard or Reserve service qualify me for a VA loan?

Does National Guard or Reserve service qualify for a VA loan?

By Kyle Melvin · NMLS #1486450 · REV Mortgage · Answered Sep 21, 2026

Short answer

Yes, three ways. Six years of creditable service in the Selected Reserve with an honorable discharge, retirement or continued service; 90 days of active service under Title 10 orders, which includes most deployments and mobilizations; or — since January 5, 2021 — 90 cumulative days of full-time National Guard duty under Title 32, at least 30 of them consecutive, which covers most state-side activations. Any of the three produces the same benefit an active-duty veteran gets. What is different is the proof: a points statement, NGB-22 or Title 32 orders rather than a DD-214, and that is where the time goes.

For most of the program's history a Guard or Reserve member without a deployment needed six years to qualify. The 2021 change added a path that most people who served through 2020 and 2021 meet without knowing it.

The three paths

Six years in the Selected Reserve. Creditable service — drilling, annual training, the years counted on your points statement — followed by an honorable discharge, placement on the retired list, transfer to Standby or the Ready Reserve after honorable service, or continued service.
90 days of active service under Title 10. A deployment, a mobilization, a federal activation. These are counted like active-duty service, and the 90-day wartime rule applies. A statement of service or DD-214 for the period proves it.
90 cumulative days of full-time Title 32 duty, with at least 30 consecutive. This is the January 2021 change, from the Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020. Full-time National Guard duty under Title 32 — the orders used for most domestic missions, including the pandemic and disaster responses — now counts. The days do not have to be on one set of orders, but one stretch has to be at least 30 days long.

State active duty, ordered under state law rather than Title 32, does not count. If you are not sure which authority your orders were under, the orders say; so does your unit's readiness office.

The paperwork

The reason Guard and Reserve COEs take longer is that there is no single DD-214 covering the service. The lender's system can still pull many COEs automatically; when it cannot, VA wants the NGB-22 or NGB-23 for Guard, a points statement for Reserve, a statement of service from the unit for current members, and Title 32 or Title 10 orders for the activation paths. The Guard and Reserve page lists the documents for each path. Gather them before you shop; the COE page covers the manual request when the automatic pull fails.

The same benefit, one difference

Once eligible, the loan is the same: no down payment with full entitlement, no mortgage insurance, the same guidelines. The one difference worth knowing is that the funding fee is not higher for Reserve and Guard borrowers any more — the schedule was equalized in 2020 — so any figure you see suggesting a Reserve surcharge is out of date. The do-I-qualify page covers the active-duty and surviving-spouse rules alongside these.

Questions people also ask

Do drill weekends count toward the 90 days?

Toward the six-year path, yes — that is what creditable Selected Reserve service is. Toward the 90-day paths, no: those count active service under Title 10 or full-time Title 32 duty, not inactive duty training. Annual training is generally full-time duty and can count on the Title 32 path.

I was activated for COVID or a hurricane under state orders. Does that count?

If the orders were Title 32 full-time duty and you have 90 cumulative days with 30 consecutive, yes, since the 2021 change. State active duty — orders under state law rather than Title 32 — does not count toward VA eligibility.

I am still in the Guard. Can I use the benefit now?

Yes, if you have met one of the three tests. Continued service satisfies the discharge requirement on the six-year path, and a current member proves it with a statement of service and a points statement from the unit.

Does drill pay count as income?

Yes, when it is likely to continue, and the lender documents it with the LES history and a statement from the unit. It is treated like any other stable part-time income.