Federal statutes (5 U.S. Code § 3330d. Appointment of military spouses) regulations (5 CFR 315.612) and Executive Orders (EO 13832 Enhancing Noncompetitive Civil Service Appointments of Military Spouses) offer military spouses the ability to apply to federal government announcements and to be appointed non-competitively to a position. Your eligibility does not entitle you to a job within the Federal Government. You must still meet qualification standards, go through the selection process and meet any additional requirements, such as a background investigation.

If applying to an announcement directly, the announcement must be accepting applications from outside of the Department of Health and Human Services.

You may be eligible if you meet one of the three requirements below:

1. You are the spouse of a member of the armed forces on active duty; or,
2. You are the spouse of a service member who is 100% disabled due to a service-connected injury; or,
3. You are the spouse of a service member killed while on active duty.

Note: The spouse of a 100% disabled or deceased member of the Armed Forces (eligibility options 2 and 3) may not receive more than one permanent appointment under this authority

Required Documentation

At the time of application, to verify your eligibility for option 1 identified above, you must submit a copy of

• Active duty orders for your spouse or other documentation from the military showing that your spouse is on active duty (i.e., active duty orders, PCS orders, statement of service, military ID); and,
• Documentation verifying marriage (i.e., a marriage license or other legal documentation verifying marriage).
  • Note: As tentative proof of marriage, we will accept PCS orders or other documentation from the military with your spouse’s name listed in-lieu of additional documentation verifying marriage.

At the time of application, to verify your eligibility for options 2 and 3 identified above, you must submit

1. Documentation showing your spouse was released or discharged from active duty due to a service-connected disability or discharged due to death;
2. Documentation showing your spouse retired, or was released or discharged from active duty, with a disability rating of 100 percent, or killed while serving on active duty;
3. Documentation verifying marriage (i.e., a marriage license or other legal documentation verifying marriage); and,
4. A statement certifying that you are the un-remarried widow or widower of the service member (if applicable).

Reference Standard Form 15 (SF-15) for qualifying documents for 1 through 4 above.

• If you are selected, you may be required to submit additional documentation to verify eligibility.
• You must submit all required documents by the closing date of the announcement with your application package.

For more information, reference FedsHireVets.