Blind Annuity for Legally Blind Wartime Veterans
An annuity paid directly to a legally blind wartime veteran, or their unmarried surviving spouse, worth $1,695.96 a year — $141.33 a month — from 1 January 2025. The blindness does not have to be service-connected.
Verified August 27, 2026
What this benefit is
An annuity paid directly to a legally blind wartime veteran, or to their unmarried surviving spouse.
It is money paid to you, not an exemption set against a bill — so it does not depend on owning property or on studying.
What it's worth: $1,695.96 a year, paid as $141.33 a month
- The rate is $141.33 a month, $1,695.96 a year, effective 1 January 2025. The 2024 rate was $1,654.50.
- It is paid in twelve monthly instalments rather than as a lump sum.
- The rate is adjusted annually by a cost-of-living increase, which the department states is held between 1% and 4%. So it rises, but slowly and within a band.
- It is paid to you as income rather than set against a bill, so it is not conditional on owning property or on studying.
- The blindness does not have to be service-connected, which is the unusual feature of this programme and the reason it reaches people who assume it cannot.
Who is entitled to it
- A legally blind veteran — 20/200 or worse in the better eye with best correction, or a field of vision under 20 degrees,
- who served during a defined wartime period, or received an expeditionary medal, with 90 days or more of active duty other than training,
- living and domiciled in New York. Or their unmarried surviving spouse.
Not sure whether that describes you?
Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.
The thing most people get wrong
The blindness does not have to be service-connected
This is the part that makes the annuity reachable by people who assume nothing applies to them. Most state disability benefits require a VA rating tying the condition to service. This one does not: it requires wartime SERVICE and legal BLINDNESS, and does not care whether the two are connected. A veteran who served in Korea and lost their sight to macular degeneration sixty years later qualifies, with no VA rating at all. Veterans in exactly that position routinely tell a county service officer they have no disability claim and stop there.
How to claim it
- 1Apply through the New York State Department of Veterans’ Services or your county veterans service agency.
- 2You will need an eye report establishing legal blindness. It does NOT have to be service-connected.
- File with
- NYS Department of Veterans’ Services
- Documents you will need
- dd214 ny · proof of blindness · proof of residence ny
- Re-certify annually
- Recertified annually — respond to the renewal notice or payments stop.
Common mistakes that cost people this benefit
- Assuming you need a VA rating. You do not — only wartime service and legal blindness.
- Letting the annual recertification lapse. Payments stop if the renewal notice is not answered.
- Not applying on behalf of a surviving spouse. An unmarried surviving spouse of a legally blind wartime veteran can receive it.
Questions people ask
- What counts as legally blind?
- 20/200 or worse in the better eye with best correction, or a field of vision limited to 20 degrees. An ophthalmologist or optometrist report establishes it.
- Do I apply to the VA?
- No. This is a New York State programme — apply through the Department of Veterans’ Services or your county veterans service agency.
Sources
- authority · published policyNYS Department of Veterans’ Services — Blind Annuity Program
- operating · published policyNYS Department of Veterans’ Services
This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.