25 CFR § 292.8 - How does a tribe qualify as having been federally recognized?

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t25/s292.8"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "25 CFR § 292.8 - How does a tribe qualify as having been federally recognized?"
title_number: 25
title_name: "Indians"
section_number: "292.8"
section_name: "How does a tribe qualify as having been federally recognized?"
chapter_name: "BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR"
subchapter_number: "N"
subchapter_name: "ECONOMIC ENTERPRISES"
part_number: "292"
part_name: "GAMING ON TRUST LANDS ACQUIRED AFTER OCTOBER 17, 1988"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-03-24"
last_updated: "2026-03-24"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "5 U.S.C. 301, 25 U.S.C. 2, 9, 2719, 43 U.S.C. 1457."
regulatory_source: "73 FR 29375, May 20, 2008, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "292"
---


# 292.8 How does a tribe qualify as having been federally recognized?

For a tribe to qualify as having been at one time federally recognized for purposes of § 292.7, one of the following must be true:

(a) The United States at one time entered into treaty negotiations with the tribe;

(b) The Department determined that the tribe could organize under the Indian Reorganization Act or the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act;

(c) Congress enacted legislation specific to, or naming, the tribe indicating that a government-to-government relationship existed;

(d) The United States at one time acquired land for the tribe's benefit; or

(e) Some other evidence demonstrates the existence of a government-to-government relationship between the tribe and the United States.