Disabled Veteran Benefits in Northern Mariana Islands

The law says no fee is charged for a veteran or disabled veteran license plate when the VA rates you at 100% permanent and total disability. To have the fee waived, give the Department of Public Safety and the Department of Finance a copy of your VA decision letter showing the rating.

Below that, the plate fee is 25% less than the fee for a similar plate on the same class of vehicle, at first registration and at renewal. That discount is for any veteran who served on active duty or in a reserve component and was discharged under conditions other than dishonorable. The "Disabled Veteran" version of the plate needs a certified disability of at least 10% from a service-related injury.

Two details are generous. You are not limited to one vehicle, and the plates go on non-commercial passenger vehicles and motorcycles. To apply, submit a copy of your DD-214 with your vehicle registration application. If you do not have one, a certification from the Military and Veterans Affairs Office works, and for the Veteran plate so does a VA Veteran Identification Card. The plates cannot be transferred to another person, but on request a survivor may keep the front plate as a memorial.

The standard operator's license fee in the Commonwealth is $50. For a veteran the law sets the fee at 25% less than the fee for a similar license. There is no rating cut-off: the law says only "a Veteran", so this one is for veterans in general, not only disabled veterans.

Proof is a copy of your DD-214, or a certification from the Military and Veterans Affairs Office that you served. The law says to furnish it to the Department of Public Safety and the Department of Finance. The license itself is issued by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

This section of the law does not make the license free at any rating, the way the plate law does for plates. The discount is the same for every veteran.

The college's governing board must waive tuition for an eligible veteran. Eligible means a CNMI resident, as the college classifies residents for tuition, who served in active federal service, is certified to have at least 30% disability from that service and, if discharged, received an honorable discharge. You can use it toward an associate, bachelor's or master's degree.

It covers tuition only. Books, student activity fees, laboratory fees and other fees are yours to pay. It also sits behind your other tuition benefits: federal and local tuition aid is applied first, and the waiver covers what is left. If you are entitled to tuition-only benefits worth as much as the waiver and did not apply for them, the waiver does not apply, so claim those first.

Two rules can cost you the waiver for a course. It does not apply to a course you fail, or one you withdraw from after the withdrawal period, unless your Dean permitted the withdrawal for reasons beyond your control. And the application, with proof that you qualify, is due no later than the last class date of the semester. The college is required to help you file it.

The CNMI Veterans Cemetery is in Marpi, Saipan, and the law also provides for satellite veterans cemeteries on Tinian and Rota. An eligible veteran is buried without charge. The law lists no disability rating.

The tie to the Commonwealth can be any one of three: you were born in the CNMI, you were a resident when you entered or left the service, or you lived here for two consecutive years. The cemetery is for people who served honorably.

Your spouse, widow or widower and your unmarried minor children are eligible as well. For them the executive officer of the Office of Military Liaison and Veteran Affairs sets a fee schedule meant to cover the actual cost of the burial, not the value of the plot.

A 2023 law added veterans' preference to the Commonwealth civil service. If you meet the federal definition of a preference eligible, you get additional points above your rating when you apply for entrance into the civil service. The 2-point tier is the one that includes disabled veterans, meaning a veteran separated under honorable conditions who has a service-connected disability or is receiving VA compensation. Veterans who qualify through their period of service alone get 1 point.

Private employers are covered by a separate, voluntary rule. They may prefer honorably discharged veterans of a war or a military campaign and their widows or widowers, and the spouse of a veteran with a permanent and total service-connected disability. The law shields an employer who does this; it does not require it.

What is not optional: no one may discriminate against you in hiring, promotion, dismissal or pay because of your prior military service. A violation carries a fine of up to $2,000 and can be taken to court as a civil claim.