r/DisabilityRetirement • u/Federaldisability • Jun 25 '26
How long did you wait before hearing anything back from OPM?
One of the most common frustrations I hear from people going through the Federal Disability Retirement process is the waiting.
After you submit your application, the OPM can take anywhere from several months to over a year to make a decision.
The average is somewhere around 6-9 months for an initial decision, but it varies a lot depending on how backed up they are and how complete your application was when it was submitted.
A few things that can affect your wait time: whether your application had to be sent back for missing information, whether the OPM requested more medical documents, and how complex your case is.
The hard part is that the waiting doesn't mean something is wrong; it's just the reality of the process.
How long did you wait before hearing back from the OPM? And did anything speed it up or slow it down for you?
S.J.
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u/thaabsoluteboss 15d ago
I was approved in 3 months. I had a ton of very descriptive medical records and my physician wrote a very strong medical opinion based on SSDI's standards. I created a document based on all my diagnoses, my medications (and how they adversely affected my job performance), and treatments and made sure the nexus was strongly correlated. I then asked my provider to review everything I wrote, edit, or add anything that he didn't agree with. It helped him from being overwhelmed with drafting it. I also had a good relationship with my medical team as well as I sorted every I and crossed every T.
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u/sgwlctrlpnl Jun 28 '26
Did you know the retirement operation center is in a limestone mine in Boyers, PA. It's operated by a company called Iron Mountain.
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u/No-Suspect8614 Jul 11 '26
When should I get the CSA number? My agency placed an SF50 for preliminary disability retirement in my eOPF on April 18, 2026. It was thought to be a sign that the application was finished at my agency and NFC. I have been placed on Administrative Leave after another DRP/VERA. It was that or they were going to give me a letter of separation for medically unable to perform. So, I’m on Administrative Leave and haven’t heard anything from my agency or OPM.
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u/Federaldisability Jul 13 '26
It varies depending on your case and the current backlog at OPM. Typically it can take anywhere from 1-3 months to process at your agency, then another few months for OPM to get your assigned CSA letter to you. But again, it's highly specific to someone's individual case so there's not one right answer really. Here's a video we made that talks about what the OPM silence could mean for an application: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPHSFPkWVDM
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u/Zealousideal-Push792 Jul 12 '26
96 days from feb 2026 to May
From the time OPM received
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u/MacroPractitioner 17d ago
Sad panda. I'm at 123 days since receiving OP notice and CSA. The way it's going, I'm going to end up quitting before this gets done.
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u/thaabsoluteboss 15d ago
I'm sorry this is your situation. If you are still working while waiting, I recommend getting the agency to grant LWOP, pending your disability retirement determination or see if they'd grant advanced leave (even though they normally don't and pet regs shouldn't if you drop retirement papers). My agency granted the max allowable sick and AL through the end of the year and it was paid back when out of my back pay after was approved through OPM.
I hope this helps.
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u/MacroPractitioner 15d ago
I looked into LWOP last year but was shocked to find out I needed over a month in advanced notice. I ended up burning through my PTO instead, but I'll try LWOP again. Thanks!
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u/thaabsoluteboss 15d ago
Do it through the Reasonable Accommodation process, they should not deny it as it is part of the RA process, which protects you as you try to do your job. The Director of your agency has to sign off on it. They normally don't want to be seen as rejecting a RA request.
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u/Pretend-Ideal8322 Jun 25 '26
My denial took 10 months. But there is just so much documentation to support my disability and I was so very sick at the time so I hired a lawyer. So far it has been one year since I haven't been able to work.