Shorten PAL Approval Times

[MAD_MAX]

They received my application on Sept 17th, and it just showed up on line this afternoon, I've been calling them once a week to check status... gonna fax in the proof of safety course tomorrow, and will start calling twice a week to check status :-)

so I faxed in the safety course papers this morning and decided to call in this afternoon to confirm they received it, their answer knocked me on my ass "sir it takes 5 - 10 business days to process a fax".......WOW

[Ipip12]

You guys need to get through to the person in the CFO office assigned your file and discuss it with them.

They won't let me do that.

[TrekNyne]

They won't let me do that.

I just called again today(5 months since app was received)..The very nice lady told me that the case officers don't actually speak to people by request, only if they need to. Mine is being reviewed, after being in queue for a long time.

[jermyzy]

Wonder why there is so much variation in wait times? Both my wife and I had our licenses in hand in less than 6 weeks from date of sending in application. Once our references called in, our license was approved in less than 24 hours. (Sent back in August 2014)

[TrekNyne]

Wonder why there is so much variation in wait times? Both my wife and I had our licenses in hand in less than 6 weeks from date of sending in application. Once our references called in, our license was approved in less than 24 hours. (Sent back in August 2014)

Well mine is an RPAL. I suppose you also have to factor in that every province is different. The lady told me they had substantially more applications than expected this year.

[jermyzy]

Well mine is an RPAL. I suppose you also have to factor in that every province is different. The lady told me they had substantially more applications than expected this year.

Mine was RPAL as well and I'm in BC. There was another member on this forum who is also in BC and applied the same time as myself. He was told there was a 4 to 6 week backlog, yet mine was approved in 24 hours after my reference called in.

[popol]

how long does it takes before the status shows on the website? I sent my paper 3 weeks ago for a PAL to RPAL upgrade

[obsoletepower]

So now that my license has been issued and is in the mail I thought I would give a complete log of the entire process:

I live in Ontario and I applied for PAL and RPAL.

Application received in Miramichi on September 15, 2014 (Day 1) without test results. I indicated that the test results will come later. The test results I sent later were received by the CFP on September 22, 2014 (Day 8). I gave them a call on October 6, 2014 (Day 22) and they said the application is in the system (at this point it appeared online as well) and that I should fax over my course test results (they gave me a 1-800 fax number) which I did the next day (October 7, 2014). I then gave them a call on the October 8th, 2014 (Day 24) to confirm the fax is received and they told me to have one of my references call in for the interview (they gave me a 4-digit extension to have the reference call). The person called that same day and once the interview was over I gave the CFP a call to confirm. They confirmed the interview was complete and now the last step is to wait for them to validate the application. On October 16, 2014 (Day 31) I checked online and the status changed to

Your application has been processed and your licence has been issued. If you have not received your licence within 2 weeks please contact the Canadian Firearms Program Toll Free number. (1-800 731-4000)

All in all the process took 31 days to have the license approved and sent out.

EDIT: I have received my license in the mail on October 23.

One thing I should mention is that 2 of the CFP people I spoke to told me that the interview process has changed. They no longer interview the license applicant and they only interview one of your references, not both. Also, you have to get them to call and it is your choice who you pick to call.

My reference was asked the following questions:

1) Confirm your contact info
2) Confirm the applicant's name and details
3) Is the applicant crazy
4) Can you think of any reason whatsoever for which the applicant should not receive a firearms license

My advice, as it is what worked for me, is to call often and ask what you should do next. Do not wait for them to call because it will probably add about 2 weeks in between steps. Once you complete a step, call right away or the very next day to confirm that it was complete. Also, when they tell you that everything is ready for the CFO to approve, keep calling ever 1-2 days and ask for status. Chances are your application will be approved after any one of those calls you make.

Also, I have not encountered any rude people. All were very pleasant and helpful.

[HussarPL]

They won't let me do that.

I wonder why, they let me do that without question. Are you in Ontario?

Maybe it was marked on my application that they wanted to interview me.

[.asenzio]

This thread deffs helped out a lot on the process. It took 37 days (incl. weekends) from the day i sent it to get my license issued. I found it that after the application entered the initial processing stage, everything flowed smoothly. Like it took 3 days from getting it into the system and getting it issued. It wouldn't have happened if had I not bugged the #### outta them though. Here are the timelines of the whole process.

Sept. 15- Application sent.

Oct. 6- Called the CFC to check status because I couldn't see it online, operator told me to call the following week because it still wasn't on their files.

Oct. 17 (friday)- Called the CFC again the following week and operator tells me it just started initial processing. She also told me to get one of my references to call the next monday because they were already closing for the weekend.

Oct. 20 (Monday) - so got both of my references to call but one of my references said that they did not need to do the interview and that my files were all good.

Oct 21- (today) I checked online to see if my status on my application changed at all, then I figured I still haven't done my interview so I called in today hoping to get my interview done. CFC operator tells me that I didn't need to do it as my license has already been issued and it would take around 3 business days to get the the license printed and sent out to me. LOL wtf?! I asked her why it was so quick, and she said that they were busy and only needed to contact 1 of the references LOL. So after the call, I go online to check the status again and it showed that whole "if you have not you received your license within two weeks blah blah blah.." LOL. Now the ACTUAL waiting game begins. So psyched!

Lol i find it odd that I didn't need to do the interview though. Has this ever happened to anyone? Haha anyways, anything works for me just to get my hands on that Plastic.