Progress on Approving Supplemental Applications

We recognize that it is frustrating that it takes so long to have your Supplemental Applications reviewed. We know how important they are to you, our members, and we appreciate your patience. Please allow me to share some of the progress we are making to address the backlog, as well as to seek your assistance in reducing future delays.

First, I’m happy to report that despite many workplace challenges, 6,323 Supplementals were verified in 2021! That is 15-percent higher than the average year of 5,500. We are now reviewing Supplementals submitted in September of 2020. While still longer than we would like at 16 months, that review time is much improved from the three years that it took a decade ago.

We recognize that we can do more to review and approve these important family submissions in a more timely fashion. Please know that we have now addressed the huge number that accrued at headquarters during the first half of 2020, when staff were not allowed to enter the building to process them due to the pandemic restrictions in the District of Columbia. When our team members finally returned in July 2020, we accepted 1,200; in August 2020, 1,200 more were received. That compares to typical monthly receipts of about 500. We’re thrilled that so many of you spent time during 2020 completing those long-planned submissions, but it did result in record numbers arriving at headquarters – further exacerbating the existing backlog.

How will we make further strides in 2022? Here are examples of our efforts:

• The staff dedicated to reviewing only Supplemental Applications has been temporarily supplemented with several team members from the Genealogy Department.
• Procedures are being developed so that all Applications that have been scanned can be reviewed remotely, ensuring that productivity can continue even if a pandemic, inclement weather or emergency shutdowns impact the building.
• The cost of our Genealogical Education Programs (GEP) have been reduced so that more members can better understand our standards and requirements, thereby submitting Supplementals that require less staff review time.
• Voters at the 130^th Continental Congress approved the Inheritance Project, which allows you to “inherit” eligible Patriots from your mother or maternal grandmother (with more relatives to follow in the future). Eliminating the need to (re)submit these proven Patriots will ultimately reduce the number of Supplementals submitted. (Read more here.)

But there is something that you can do to help expedite the verification of your Supplemental Application: help us to approve them faster by ensuring that they arrive ready to be reviewed! After all, if the genealogist needs to write an AIR (Additional Information Required), it slows down not only your Supplemental, but others as well, adding to the backlog. Properly prepared submissions are key to our ability to expedite approvals.

Here are ways that you can help us make further progress in reducing the review time for Supplemental Applications:

1. Sign Page 1. Have your Chapter Registrar or other eligible Chapter Officer also sign.

2. If your Patriot is established, review his/her profile in the Ancestor Database of the Genealogical Research System (GRS). Is there anything missing, i.e., at least a circa birth date, death date/place, residence, service description and/or source of service? If so, you need to research this information in order to update the profile.

3. Review the Genealogy Guidelines, particularly Part II, to make sure you understand requirements for the lineage page of your Supplemental (Page 2).

• Are there complete dates and places for Generations 2 and 3, along with documentation to support any new information?
• Have you included documentation to support any new dates and places in earlier generations? And is that documentation acceptable? (see pages 25-34)
• Is there acceptable documentation to prove the connections between every generation?

If the answer to any of these questions is “no,” you need to do further research before submission!

Need help? Here’s the best news of all: you can now receive assistance from the new Supplemental Application Virtual Support Team. These wonderful member volunteers will help you prepare and submit a Supplemental Application that is ready for review (and hopefully approval!) upon arrival. We want to review your Supplemental Applications in a timely manner – please help us to further reduce the backlog by submitting well-prepared papers that will fly through approval!