Disabled Veteran Benefits in American Samoa

This is the strongest benefit in the territory's own law. When the American Samoa Government fills a career service job by competitive exam, a disabled veteran who passes gets 10 additional points. A veteran without a disability, or the unremarried widow of a veteran, gets 5 additional points. On a tied score, the veteran's name goes on the hiring list ahead of the others.

The law does not set a minimum rating. You count as a disabled veteran if you were separated under honorable conditions and have a service-connected disability or receive VA compensation, disability retirement or pension. The 5-point veteran is defined differently: at least 180 consecutive days of active duty, not counting training, and a separation under honorable conditions. One limit to know: the statute writes the preference for a U.S. national of American Samoan ancestry, while the personnel regulations define it as a U.S. citizen or a U.S. national of American Samoan ancestry.

Two more rules matter. A manager who passes over a veteran on the list for a non-veteran has to file written reasons. And the points apply to open competitive exams only, not to promotion exams. If you hold a career service job and are ordered to active or reserve duty, the law entitles you, within 120 days after a release under honorable conditions, to be restored to the position you held.

The territory runs its own veterans office, separate from the federal VA. Its job is to be an advocate on-island for active military, veterans and their families. It says it assists with issues concerning veterans' compensation, funeral arrangements for veterans, and follow-ups on benefit reviews.

The office also runs a Veterans Computer Workstation: a dedicated space with computers and internet for online applications, job searches and benefits processing, with staff on hand to help.

The office's website has a Veterans Registration Form to fill in and email back.

The territory's college is American Samoa Community College, and it is approved for the Montgomery GI Bill, the Post-9/11 GI Bill and Dependents' Educational Assistance. Those are federal programs. We found no American Samoa program that waives tuition for veterans or their children on top of them.

What the college does offer is the resident tuition rate for GI Bill users who are not U.S. citizens or nationals and would otherwise be charged more. You qualify if you use the Montgomery or Post-9/11 GI Bill, live in American Samoa while attending, and enroll within three years of leaving a period of active duty of 90 days or more. Dependents using transferred Post-9/11 benefits are covered on the same three-year rule.

Without the GI Bill, a student who is not a U.S. citizen or national has to live in the territory for five consecutive years before applying for the resident rate. The college's VA Student Services Office assists veteran students and eligible family members.

This is federal, not territorial. The Faleomavaega Eni Fa'aua'a Hunkin VA Clinic is in the Fiatele Teo Army Reserve Building in Pago Pago. It is an outpatient clinic: primary care, laboratory and pathology services, and more. A VA triage nurse line answers around the clock at 833-983-0487.

Congress wrote a transport law for American Samoa veterans. If you live in the territory and the VA decides you must be taken to Hawaii for hospital care you are entitled to at VA facilities there, the Department of Defense may fly you on its own aircraft, and it may not charge you. The law says may, not must, and the seats are space-available only, so the flight is not guaranteed.

American Samoa has its own income tax, built by adopting the federal income tax rules as a separate territorial tax. Federal law says payments of VA benefits are exempt from taxation, so your disability compensation is not taxed here either.

States usually add their own breaks on top: a property tax exemption, a free plate, a waived registration. We searched the American Samoa code for them and found none written for veterans. The vehicle licensing section in the published code lists $32.00 for a motor vehicle plus $12.00 per ton of weight, and $32.00 to renew, and it names no veteran or disability exemption.

If the veterans office tells you otherwise, trust the office. Laws passed in recent years may not yet appear in the published code.