The VA rating for allergic rhinitis comes in three tiers under 38 CFR § 4.97, Diagnostic Code 6522: 0% when the condition is service-connected but doesn’t meet the obstruction threshold, 10% for significant nasal obstruction without polyps, and 30% when nasal polyps are documented. As of December 2025, a 10% rating pays $180.42 per month and a 30% rating pays $552.47 per month for a veteran with no dependents. The rating turns almost entirely on what a Compensation and Pension examiner sees inside your nose, so what shows up in that exam matters more than how bad your symptoms feel.
The Three Rating Tiers
Diagnostic Code 6522 covers allergic or vasomotor rhinitis and offers only two compensable levels. The criteria are mechanical: the VA looks at obstruction percentages and whether polyps exist, not symptom severity.
- 0% (non-compensable): a confirmed diagnosis and service connection, but no polyps and obstruction below the threshold. No monthly payment, but the rating still carries benefits.
- 10%: greater than 50% obstruction of both nasal passages, or complete obstruction of one side, without polyps.
- 30%: rhinitis with polyps. This is the maximum under DC 6522, and it does not depend on the degree of obstruction. If polyps are documented, the 30% rating applies.
The gap between 10% and 30% comes down to one clinical finding. A veteran with severe obstruction and no polyps is capped at 10%. A veteran with polyps gets 30% regardless of how blocked the airways are. That single finding is worth an additional $372.05 per month in 2026 compensation.
2026 Payment Amounts
The VA adjusts disability compensation annually based on the Social Security cost-of-living increase. The 2026 rates, effective December 1, 2025, reflect a 2.8% increase over the prior year.
- 10% rating: $180.42 per month ($2,165.04 annually)
- 30% rating: $552.47 per month ($6,629.64 annually)
Those figures cover a single veteran with no dependents. Veterans rated 30% or higher receive additional compensation for qualifying dependents, so the monthly payment can be higher depending on family size.
What the C&P Examiner Actually Looks For
After you file, the VA schedules a Compensation and Pension examination. This is where the rating gets made. The examiner inspects your nasal cavity with a speculum or flexible endoscope, measures the degree of airway obstruction, and checks for polyps. Findings go on the Sinusitis/Rhinitis and Other Conditions of the Nose, Throat, Larynx and Pharynx Disability Benefits Questionnaire, and a claims adjudicator uses that report to assign the rating.
The examiner documents observations rather than deciding your rating, but the report carries enormous weight. A finding of “no polyps observed” will almost always cap you at 10%, even if earlier records showed polyps. Rhinitis is episodic, and a single snapshot on exam day doesn’t always match the overall picture. If you’ve had polyps documented in the past, or you’ve had them surgically removed, tell the examiner and make sure the full history is in the file.
Getting Service-Connected
Before any rating percentage attaches, you have to establish that your rhinitis is connected to your military service. Three things are required: a current medical diagnosis, evidence of an in-service event or exposure that could have caused it, and a medical opinion linking the two.
The medical nexus opinion is where most claims stumble. A doctor must state that your rhinitis is “at least as likely as not” related to your service, meaning at least a 50% probability. Language like “could be related” or “possibly connected” falls short. If you’re getting a private nexus letter, ask the physician to use that specific phrasing and to explain the reasoning behind the conclusion.
The PACT Act Shortcut
The PACT Act, signed in August 2022, added chronic rhinitis to the list of presumptive conditions for Gulf War era and post-9/11 veterans. If you qualify under the presumption, you skip the nexus opinion entirely. You need only a current diagnosis and proof of service in a qualifying location during the relevant period.
Presumed exposure applies to service on or after August 2, 1990, in Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, or the United Arab Emirates. For service on or after September 11, 2001, the qualifying locations expand to include Afghanistan, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Uzbekistan, and Yemen. Airspace above these locations counts. If you served in any of these places and have a rhinitis diagnosis, you have a strong claim path that doesn’t require hunting for a nexus opinion.
Evidence That Supports a Higher Rating
The standard application is VA Form 21-526EZ, submitted online through VA.gov or on paper. Gather your evidence before filing rather than waiting for the VA to request records. That single choice can shave months off the process.
Private treatment records documenting nasal symptoms over time are the backbone of the file. Prescription records for nasal corticosteroids or antihistamines help establish that the condition is chronic. Imaging that identified polyps, whether CT scans or endoscopy reports, directly supports the 30% tier. Records of any surgical intervention for polyps or obstruction belong in the file as well.
You can ask a private physician to complete the rhinitis DBQ before you file. That gives the VA structured clinical findings in the exact format adjudicators expect. A completed DBQ doesn’t guarantee you’ll skip the C&P exam, but it sets a solid baseline.
Clinical records don’t always capture how symptoms affect daily life. Personal statements fill that gap. You can submit your own account on VA Form 21-4138 (Statement in Support of Claim), and statements from family members, friends, or fellow service members go on VA Form 21-10210 (Lay/Witness Statement). Buddy statements are particularly useful for documenting symptoms during service that never made it into your military medical file.
What a 0% Rating Still Gets You
A non-compensable rating means no monthly check, which frustrates veterans who expected payment. But a 0% service-connected rating opens several doors that are closed to veterans without any service connection:
- VA healthcare at no cost for your service-connected rhinitis, including related prescriptions
- 10-point federal hiring preference in competitive job applications
- Travel reimbursement for scheduled VA medical appointments
- Access to military commissaries, exchanges, and morale, welfare and recreation facilities
A 0% rating also gives you a foundation for a future increase. If polyps develop a year later, you file for an increased rating rather than starting a new claim, which is faster and simpler. And if you have multiple 0% service-connected disabilities, 38 CFR § 3.324 allows the VA to assign a combined 10% compensable rating in certain cases.
Secondary Conditions Worth Claiming
One of the most overlooked strategies in VA claims is pursuing secondary service connection for conditions caused or worsened by an already service-connected condition. Under 38 CFR § 3.310, a disability that is “proximately due to or the result of” a service-connected condition qualifies for its own separate rating. If a non-service-connected condition is aggravated (made permanently worse) by your rhinitis, compensation covers the degree of worsening above the baseline.
Sleep Apnea
Obstructive sleep apnea is the most common secondary claim tied to allergic rhinitis. Chronic nasal obstruction is a recognized risk factor for developing OSA. To establish the link, you need a current sleep apnea diagnosis, your existing service-connected rhinitis rating, and a medical opinion explaining how the nasal obstruction contributed to or caused the sleep disorder. The nexus opinion has to come from a qualified medical professional; the VA won’t accept lay testimony alone for a medical relationship this complex.
Sleep apnea rated under DC 6847 can produce ratings of 0%, 30%, 50%, or 100%, so a successful secondary claim here can move your combined disability percentage substantially.
Sinusitis
Many veterans with rhinitis also have chronic sinusitis, and the VA can rate both separately when each rating is based on different symptoms. The anti-pyramiding rule at 38 CFR § 4.14 prohibits rating the “same manifestation under different diagnoses,” so you can’t get credit for the same nasal obstruction under both codes. Sinusitis, rated under Diagnostic Codes 6510 through 6514, is evaluated on incapacitating episodes, antibiotic treatment courses, and sinus headaches. Because those criteria don’t overlap with the obstruction-and-polyps standard for rhinitis, separate ratings are possible when the clinical evidence shows distinct symptoms.
Appealing a Low Rating
If the VA assigns a lower rating than the evidence supports, you have three options under the Appeals Modernization Act. The clock starts on the date printed on your decision letter, and the right path depends on whether you have new evidence.
- Higher-Level Review: a more senior adjudicator re-examines the existing evidence. No new evidence allowed, but the reviewer can catch errors the original adjudicator missed. Must be filed within one year of the decision.
- Supplemental Claim: you submit new and relevant evidence, such as a new medical opinion, updated treatment records, or a private DBQ, and the VA reconsiders. No filing deadline, but filing within one year preserves your original effective date.
- Board Appeal: your case goes to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals for review by a Veterans Law Judge. You can choose direct review, submit additional evidence, or request a hearing. Board appeals often take one to two years or more.
The one-year deadline matters for preserving your effective date. Under 38 CFR § 3.2500, filing any of these review options within one year keeps your claim in “continuous pursuit,” meaning any eventual award can be backdated to the original filing date. Miss that window and Higher-Level Review is off the table; your only remaining path is a supplemental claim with an effective date that resets to whenever you refile.
Effective Dates and Retroactive Pay
The effective date decides when your payments begin. Under 38 U.S.C. § 5110, the general rule is that the effective date cannot be earlier than the date the VA received your application, with two important exceptions.
File within one year of discharge and the effective date goes back to the day after separation. That is the best-case scenario and can mean months of retroactive pay. File more than a year after discharge and the effective date is the date the VA receives the claim, no earlier, regardless of how long you’ve had the condition.
For increased ratings, if you were at 10% and polyps develop later, the effective date is the earliest date the increase is ascertainable from the evidence, provided you file within one year of that date. If records show polyps were first identified in March and you file for an increase the following February, you could receive back pay to March. Wait longer than a year and the effective date snaps forward to the filing date.
Rating Reductions After Polyp Surgery
Veterans with the 30% rating sometimes worry about what happens after polyps are surgically removed. The VA can propose a reduction if a future examination shows the polyps are gone, but the process is not automatic.
Under 38 CFR § 3.344, the VA must show actual sustained improvement before reducing a rating. For ratings in effect less than five years, a single exam showing improvement can support a reduction. For ratings stable for five years or more, the VA must show improvement is consistent across the full medical record and reasonably certain to continue under normal living conditions. A reduction based on one exam that happened to catch a good day won’t hold up if the overall record shows ongoing problems.
Board of Veterans’ Appeals decisions have restored 30% ratings where the VA improperly reduced a veteran to non-compensable after polyp surgery, finding the reduction didn’t meet the evidentiary standard. If you receive a proposal to reduce your rating, you have 60 days to submit evidence and request a hearing before the reduction takes effect. Don’t ignore that letter.