FAQs

The National Active and Retired Federal Employees (NARFE) Association has been protecting and improving the earned benefits of federal employees, retirees, former employees and their families or survivors since 1921. NARFE is an advocate for both active, former and retired federal employees before Congress and the White House. NARFE sponsors and supports legislation to protect the earned benefits and general welfare of members. For more information, see the NARFE YouTube channel or the National website.

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In addition to NARFE’s legislative efforts on behalf of members, membership includes: advance information on changes to your federal retirement, health and other employee and retiree benefits; an award-winning monthly magazine and exclusive website access; access to live and recorded webinars about employee and retiree benefits; special member discounts and eligibility for college scholarships and disaster relief grants. For more information, visit the Benefits of Joining NARFE or NARFE Perks pages on our national website.

The NARFE website answers this question at the top of its Membership page.
One key point – You don’t have to be retired to join NARFE. One out of every five new members is an active federal employee.
Also, former federal employees are eligible to join.

Military service alone does not qualify for membership in NARFE. You must have worked in a federal civil service position. To find military groups you could join, see Wikipedia’s lists for US Military Associations, United States military support organizations or American veterans’ organizations.

Yes, postal employees and retirees are eligible for NARFE membership.

To join other active and retired federal workers who are NARFE members, you can click the Join NARFE link at the top right of this page. Or you can contact Recruitment and Retention at 703-838-7760, extension 204 (8 am to 5 pm ET), email hq@narfe.org or write to NARFE Recruitment and Retention, 606 N Washington St, Alexandria VA 22314-1914.

Spouses are encouraged to join NARFE so that they can participate in activities of the Association, vote, hold office and become more knowledgeable about federal employee and retirement benefits.

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Active federal employees, retired federal employees, their spouses and survivor annuitants can enroll for $48.00 for the first year in lieu of national and chapter dues. Upon the anniversary date for renewal, these members will have the option of renewing for multiple years. The one-year rate is $48.00, plus one-year chapter dues of record; the two-year rate is $72.00, plus two years’ chapter dues of record; or the three-year rate is $102.00, plus three years’ chapter dues of record.

By signing an authorization form, retired members and survivor annuitants instruct the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to withhold 1/12 of their annual Association dues each month from their annuity. OPM will send the money to NARFE. This can be arranged for both national and chapter dues. Dues cannot be deducted from the paychecks of active federal employees.

No. NARFE National life membership is no longer available. At the 2024 National Meeting, NARFE members voted to eliminate life membership effective October 1, 2024. But, all life memberships processed before that date are still valid.

See the NARFE Magazine, January/February 2025, page 42, NARFE Life Membership Option Ends, for other ways to pay your membership. You can also contact Member Services at 800-456-8410, extension 1, or email them at MemberRecords@NARFE.org for information.

Yes. Member Records at 800-456-8410 can answer questions about billing, dues withholding, renewals or change of member information. Dues can also be paid on the NARFE website. In the menu at the top right, select FOR MEMBERS and then Renew Your Membership. You will need to log into the NARFE website with your User ID and password to get to the renewal form.

It’s your choice. You can donate to NARFE’s Alzheimer’s Fund, NARFE-PAC, the scholarship fund or other areas of interest. However, these are all voluntary contributions. None are required.

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NARFE’s Federal Benefits Institute is staffed with skilled professionals waiting to assist you in resolving benefit and insurance problems. In addition, there are 122 service centers nationwide maintained by NARFE in federal agencies or on military installations. Chapters also have volunteer Service Officers ready to help. You can contact the Institute by filling out the online form on their web page.

Contact Member Records at 800-456-8410 regarding missed magazines and other membership mailings.

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No, chapter membership is voluntary. Members who do not join a chapter are categorized as National only members. They only pay NARFE association dues. They are still supported by the federation for the state in which they reside, can attend their federation’s annual conference/meeting and can vote in federation and national elections. They may occasionally receive updates from their state federation by email or mail if they have not provided NARFE their email address.

With more than 1,500 chapters in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Panama, Guam, the Philippines and the Virgin Islands, it is likely that there is a chapter close to your home or workplace. Check the NARFE Find a Chapter Tool, contact Member Records at 800-456-8410 or write to Member Records to find a chapter near you.

Chapter set their dues; they range from $2.00 to $20.00, with the average being about $6.00. As a chapter member, you have a voice in setting your chapter’s dues, based upon the programs developed within that chapter.

Check the NARFE Find a Chapter Tool, contact Member Services at 800-456-8410, or write to Member Services to locate area chapters and to register your chapter transfer.

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Yes. It is necessary to submit an F-7 annually to also ensure the proper collection of chapter dues. Chapters need to submit an F-7 Chapter Officers Roster to Federation and Chapter Services. The amount of chapter dues, and any officer additions, deletions, changes and/or vacancies, should be indicated on this form

Federation and Chapter Services keeps these documents and can be reached at FedChpSrvcs@narfe.org or 703-838-7760, extension 256.

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NARFE-PAC  is our Political Action Committee. They work to protect our pay and benefits by using our funding “to elect members of Congress who support the federal community”. See the NARFE-PAC page on the national website for more information and/or to make a contribution.
source: NARFE-PAC, click on the link in the last sentence.

Members fund NARFE-PAC through their voluntary contributions. “Federal law prohibits NARFE-PAC from soliciting contributions from anyone other than NARFE members and the immediate family of these individuals. Any contribution received from any other person will be returned to the contributor.”
source: NARFE-PAC, click on the link in the first sentence.

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Check the Links page on this site to see if any of them are the general area for which you need more information. That page links to others on our site with a list of specific links under that subject. You can also go directly to one of those pages’ topic:
– Federal Benefits
– Legislative (for U.S, State of Illinois and tribal governments)
– NARFE
– Online Media for Federal Employees and Retirees

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