OPM Declares 'Last Day of Paper' for Federal Retirement

Calling it the “Last Day of Paper”-- the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) officially ended paper processing for most federal retirement applications.

In a new release, OPM said that as of July 1, 2026, nearly all retirement applications will be submitted and processed through OPM’s Online Retirement Application (ORA). The only exceptions are some smaller intelligence organizations that have different confidentiality requirements.

“For decades, retirement applications were literally mailed around the country before reaching OPM. That’s over. By moving retirement online, we’re delivering faster decisions, better service, and greater transparency for federal employees while modernizing an essential government function,” said OPM Director Scott Kupor in an accompanying blog post. 

OPM touted the benefits of ORA, which includes allowing stakeholders (retirees, HR, payroll, etc.), to work from a single electronic record, reducing delays caused by paper handling and manual transfers.

OPM also announced new capabilities: 

• A new pre-retirement application that allows employees and agency HR offices to complete much of the retirement process before an employee’s separation date.

• Earlier processing of retirement applications while final payroll information is still being finalized.

• A commitment to issue a retiree’s first pension payment within seven days of retirement for applicants who submit a complete retirement package by their separation date. 

OPM also started a development project to modernize call center technology and is expected to release the first AI-enabled government customer support application by the end of the fiscal year. The tool will allow customers to interact with an AI-powered support agent available 24 hours a day to help answer questions and resolve routine issues.

Backlog Decreasing

Meanwhile, OPM is whittling down the claims backlog, but is seeing processing times click higher.

The backlog stood at 38,547 claims at the end of May, down from a high of 65,237 in February.

Total average processing time however went up to 87 days in May from 78 in April, while average processing time for digital claims rose to 66 days from 50.