July 29, 2021 Deadline Confronts 9/11 Community

With the start of the new year comes a new and critically important deadline for all members of the 9/11 community: July 29, 2021.

Ordinarily, claimants with 9/11-related illnesses – which include 68 different types of cancer and dozens of respiratory conditions – must register with the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund within two years of their illness being certified by the World Trade Center Health Program, and families must register within 2 years of their loved one’s death.

But, following the passage of the permanent-extension of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act, the VCF Special Master created a two-year window for 9/11 community members and their families to file older claims. The deadline for older claims has been extended to July 29, 2021.

Please help us spread the word to every WTC responder, downtown office worker, resident or student — and to every Pentagon and Shanskville, Pa. responder — who has been diagnosed with any of the 9/11 cancers, or whose family member passed from a 9/11 illness. And please share this information about the deadline with everyone you know who was in Lower Manhattan, at the Fresh Kills Landfill or morgues, or at the Pentagon or Shanskville on 9/11 or during any part of the following 8 months (for Pentagon and Shanksville responders, they must prove that they were exposed on 9/11 or anytime up until November 19, 2001).  It’s not too late for them to register a claim.  But, It will be soon!

Don’t wait. The VCF will be open to victims and families until 2090, but to access the benefits you are owed, you must comply with the registration deadlines and filing requirements of the VCF. Once this extension is over, the statutory 2-year deadline will return.