Through employing permutation entropy and the self-correlation function, the time-delay signature (TDS) of a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) with variable-polarization filtered optical feedback (VPFOF) is evaluated theoretically. The work shows that the feedback rate η, polarizer angle θp, and filter bandwidth Λ have an obvious influence on the TDS. The evolution maps of the TDS in parameter space (η,Λ) and (η,θp) are simulated for searching the chaos with weak TDS. Furthermore, compared with a VCSEL with polarization-preserved filtered optical feedback and a VCSEL with variable-polarization mirror optical feedback, this VPFOF–VCSEL shows superiority in TDS suppression.