Claim received – The VA will let you know when its received your disability claim. If you file your claim online, you’ll get an on-screen message from the VA after you submit the form. If you mail your application, the VA will send you a letter to let you know the claim has been received. You should get this letter about one week, plus mailing time, after the VA receives your claim. 2. Initial review – The VA will review your claim. It’ll move to step 3 if they don’t need any more evidence to support it. 3. Evidence gathering, review, and decision – during this step, the VA does 3 things: -Ask for evidence from you, health care providers, governmental agencies, or others -Review the evidence -Make a decision 4. Preparation for notification – the VA gets your entire claim decision packet ready to be mailed 5. Claim complete – the VA will send you a packet by U.S. mail that includes details of the decision on your claim. Please allow 7 to 10 business days for your packet to arrive before contacting a VA call center