Eligibility & Dues

Being a Member

The cor­ner­stone of AMVETS mem­ber­ship is the local post. Vary­ing in size from 10 mem­bers to more than 2,000 in some cases, each AMVETS post con­ducts pro­grams and activ­i­ties related to the state and national organization’s goals and objectives.

Mem­ber­ship, though, is not lim­ited to join­ing the AMVETS post in your home­town. In fact, there may not be a post there or you may not live close to one. In such cases, an indi­vid­ual may elect to become a member-at-large.

Being a Member-at-Large

If you didn’t Join a post, you have the mem­ber sta­tus of a Member-at-Large. A member-at-large does not belong to a post, yet the mem­ber is counted as a mem­ber to the state they have cho­sen upon application.

A member-at-large has all of the ben­e­fits of a post mem­ber except a member-at-large has NO vot­ing author­ity at the post, Depart­ment, or National level. As a member-at-large, you can request a trans­fer. Down­load trans­fer form Here.

We also offer two mem­ber­ship cat­e­gories—annual and life—each with its own dues structure.

Eli­gi­bil­ity & Dues

To be eli­gi­ble for mem­ber­ship in AMVETS, you must have served in the U.S. Armed Forces, includ­ing the National Guard and Reserves, any­time after Sept. 15, 1940. Addi­tion­ally, unless still serv­ing, your dis­charge must have been under hon­or­able con­di­tions. If you served as an Amer­i­can cit­i­zen in the armed forces of an allied nation, under hon­or­able con­di­tions, between Sept. 15, 1940 and May 8, 1975, you are also eli­gi­ble, as are wartime mem­bers of the Mer­chant Marine. Proof of eli­gi­bil­ity can take the form of a DD-214, an hon­or­able dis­charge cer­tifi­cate or other appro­pri­ate document.

As a rule of thumb, annual dues are $30, but this amount may vary from state to state or post to post. Life mem­ber dues are a min­i­mum of $250 as of 1/1/2012.These dues fund, in part, the pro­grams, ser­vices and rep­re­sen­ta­tion AMVETS provides.

PLEASE NOTE: When join­ing online, please note the mem­ber­ship ver­biage in the Mem­ber­ship Man­ual. If you join any­time before Sept. 1 of the cur­rent year, your mem­ber­ship is good for the cur­rent year only. If you join on or after Sept. 1, your mem­ber­ship is good for the next year.