PAL Wait Time

daddy2000gt said:
I sent mine on Jan 22
Showed received Feb 9
Showed initial processing on May 14th
I called to see what was the status of things and was told the photo I sent was not good enough so I sent another May 20th
License approved on June 2nd

I will tell you all that every step along this process was initiated by a phone call that I made. If I didn't call I still would not know that the photo was not good enough.

Call often... It helps
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I had to send in another photo which was received on April 23rd and I’m still waiting. I phoned May 5th and was advised it’d be another 4-6 weeks as the return information dept. was about 2 months behind. Your new photo was processed in a reasonable amount of time unlike in my case. :(
 
For sure. I don't know what accounts for my quick turnaround, but perhaps mine was just an easy case. Nothing in my history that would raise any red flag. My references have PALs, so maybe they were just easy to verify (they were not called). I work for a federal agency and have security clearances, so that might have made me particularly easy to verify.
 
JeffT said:
I had to send in another photo which was received on April 23rd and I’m still waiting. I phoned May 5th and was advised it’d be another 4-6 weeks as the return information dept. was about 2 months behind. Your new photo was processed in a reasonable amount of time unlike in my case. :(
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Not sure why I was so special. I did get a "trick" from a friend who is OPP. He said that they are told unofficially to take the envelope that they are submitting with and take a coloured marker and put slanted chevrons around the edge of the envelope. Apparently that indicates it is for employment and therefore urgent. Not sure how true it is but as you mentioned, it seemed to help my process time..
 
Crewchief47 said:
Called back today and card was issued while on the phone, and I bumped to RPAL as well. Got the impression I would have been approved last call because I still haven't received any letter that was mentioned in that first call. Just have to wait for CP now.
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Arrived in mail today. :D

So the full time line:
ON Applicant
PAL course taken:1998
Origonal PAL issued in 98, I then let it expire as life and family happened before I got started shooting
Re-Application Sent: December 23th snail mail
Received(per website): Jan 5th
CC Charged: April 20th
PAL Issued: May 27th
Delivered: June 7th
 
Ontario applicant.

March 10th mailed.
March 12th received.
May 13th CC charged.

May 31st faxed safety course results in. (took forever to get my stamped copy back from FSECO because the paperwork originally got ate by Canada post sorting machines).

June 9th PAL issued.

Pretty happy with the timeline especially considering the issues I had waiting on my safety course paperwork which held up my processing a bit.

I did have an FAC license from way back in the day but had gotten out of the sport for many years. No idea if this had any influence on my processing time. Probably not.
 
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My wife just received her RPAL.

April 15 Mailed
April 21 Received
May 29 CC charged
June 3 License Issued
Jun 8 License in hand

10 days from CC to license in hand.

My 12yo sons license is in progress as well.
 
Still waiting.... I called and everything is good except the scanning department has not scanned my photo yet. The lady on the phone sent them an email.... *sigh sent in Jan CC charged mid Feb.....
 
tjsoutdoor said:
Ontario applicant.

March 10th mailed.
March 12th received.
May 13th CC charged.

May 31st faxed safety course results in. (took forever to get my stamped copy back from FSECO because the paperwork originally got ate by Canada post sorting machines).

June 9th PAL issued.

Pretty happy with the timeline especially considering the issues I had waiting on my safety course paperwork which held up my processing a bit.

I did have an FAC license from way back in the day but had gotten out of the sport for many years. No idea if this had any influence on my processing time. Probably not.
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June 17th License in hand
 
Ontario applicant
Jan 14 application received
April 23 CC charged
May 5th called and they told me I need to send a new photo ID, one that is photo paper and not printer paper. I sent a new photo and it was received may 12th. May 27th was when I last called and they said we got the photo but your license hasn't begun processing. How much longer should I be expected to wait? I'll call tomorrow but I don't have high hopes. The only thing the RCMP website says "app received jan 14"
 
Fandabidozi said:
Ontario applicant
Jan 14 application received
April 23 CC charged
May 5th called and they told me I need to send a new photo ID, one that is photo paper and not printer paper. I sent a new photo and it was received may 12th. May 27th was when I last called and they said we got the photo but your license hasn't begun processing. How much longer should I be expected to wait? I'll call tomorrow but I don't have high hopes. The only thing the RCMP website says "app received jan 14"
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I mentioned it before and reiterate again: "go to Walmart for your license picture, cost is like $14" - I knew this could be an issue and that's what we did for my wife since Costco picture service is closed.

.
 
Application Received by CFP: Feb 10/ 2020
Course Completed: March 20
Course results received and sent in May 03
CC Charged and Sent in my course results: May 31st
Application Completed Initial processing: June 10th

Just waiting on the Ontario CFO and I should be good to go. Is there any point in calling the CFO to in attempt to shorten the time more?
 
lightlysalteddinosaur said:
Application Received by CFP: Feb 10/ 2020
Course Completed: March 20
Course results received and sent in May 03
CC Charged and Sent in my course results: May 31st
Application Completed Initial processing: June 10th

Just waiting on the Ontario CFO and I should be good to go. Is there any point in calling the CFO to in attempt to shorten the time more?
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It's only been a week. I'd wait about 2 more first. They do take a bit of time to complete their process. Ontario seems to be going pretty smoothly right now. At least it was for me.
 
Manitoba applicant
Received Sept 24th 2020.
CC charged Jan 14th 2021.
Called at some point in feb, i forgot to sign my photo.
Received notice to sign picture and send back I did the same day March 5th.
Still nothing, I call once a week and they just give me the same answer every time. Infuriating
 
Big-boss-man said:
Shoppers
Walmart
"Travel" places -like an ama or some such-


there are quite a few places that do passport photos, you just need to tell them it is for a PAL cause the sizes are a little different.
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Yes, we did Walmart for my wife, that worked well. I am usually a cheapskate but reading from many responses here, once your picture has even a little mistake, it delays the process by many months.

.
 
Just tossing my two cents in the ring here. I completed my non restricted course last year, first weekend of October. I got my paperwork back fairly quickly and sent it off to be processed. Fast forward to early June of this year, I finally saw a status update on the website, stating they'd recieved my application June 4th. I'm guessing my application got lost in the shuffle at the post office. Needless to say, once that update happened, it was about 2 weeks until the website showed approved.
 
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