TexasCHLforum.com

koolaid wrote:Finally sent in my packet today. Hopefully I will have it by next thanksgiving.

Now THERE is a realistic expectation... :)

KingofKaty wrote:Someone suggested that I start a new topic for November, I appear to be the first one.

I mailed my completed packet off to DPS this morning, certified but no return receipt.

I applied online and did my fingerprinting through FAST. Hope this makes the process go faster. I have several hawaian shirts and can't wait to do the Wally Walk!

Nope - nothing you do in the interest of efficiency will speed your application along. I applied online, and it STILL took three weeks for the status to change from "Packet mailed to applicant" to "Processing".

They can still reject your fingerprints, even if they're through FAST. They can still reject your passport photos. And here's another little factoid - they reject these things arbitrarily, and for no other reason than "because they can". Example - I took a CHL class with 12 other individuals. We all had our pictures taken by the same person, in the same lighting, and with the same camera at the same settings, yet of those 12, mine were the only ones to have been rejected as being "grainy". How's that possible? Answer - applications are randomly selected from the pile and for one or more reasons are rejected.

BTW, sometimes, you'll get a double-whammy because photos and fingerprints are handled by two different people. If your application hits "today's random rejection pile" for both people, you'll get two separate letters, and probably several weeks apart.

In the case of CHL applications, efficiency in the interest of trying to make their jobs easier has absolutely no effect on the DPS.

So, you may as well settle in, because it's gonna be a long wait, and I agree, that really sucks. Not only do you have to buy your constitutional rights back from the state, but you have to wait until they get around to processing your application (but rest assured, they'll cash your check right away - at least that part of the process has little/no waiting time).