Pal wait times

[fowlweather]

I was just wondering how long it usually takes to receive a pal in the mail. I have heard from some people that from date of mail-in to receival it takes upwards of 8 months! Surely this can't be the case that's pretty ridiculous IMO

[heyblast]

Mine took under four weeks, probably would of been faster but I missed a question and had to phone to give the info for the missed question. That was last winter and past renewals have taken about the same amount of time.

[tristanmac]

mine took about a month and three weeks. that was with everything filled out properly.

[jeff]

i had to anwer the the any contact with police question with a yes and mine took 2 months

[Min]

I applied for mine and about three weeks later there was a message waiting for me when I got home from work. From the CFC. I called them and it seemed that there was a problem with my credit card number. I had put dashes between the number groups and their computer had rejected it. Gave them the number over the phone, without the dashes. PAL/RPAL arrived 4 days later.

[Crimson Viking]

Mine took 5 Month back 2 years ago ... almost drove me nuts , dunno how many times i called the CFO and firearms center. Transferred back and forth was told by someone in the CFO office that they were understaffed and overworked. Little solace when hunting season is approaching and me not wanting to be made a criminal because they couldn't get their stuff together.

[JAFA]

Mine took 5 Month back 2 years ago ... almost drove me nuts , dunno how many times i called the CFO and firearms center. Transferred back and forth was told by someone in the CFO office that they were understaffed and overworked. Little solace when hunting season is approaching and me not wanting to be made a criminal because they couldn't get their stuff together.

Weird, about 2 years ago for me and it was 5 months as well.

Jim.

[Jagermeister]

Recently, mine took 3 weeks to return to me and this was just after the postal strike. Took less time to get the registration certificate for a new rifle purchase.

[pg83]

Mine took just over 4 weeks and my friends took almost 6 months. We took the course together and applied within days of each other, no idea why there was such a time difference.

[Morel]

From the RCMP website
"In 2009, the average processing time for a standard firearms licence application in which all the requested information was provided and did not require follow up was 29 days. Because of the need for reference checks and deeper scrutiny of applicants' backgrounds, the average processing time for new Possession and Acquisition Licences (PAL) was 48 days. This includes the mandatory 28-day waiting period for new PALs."

The ~48 day processing time from when the application was received by the RCMP (not when it was mailed - add a week for Canada Post) was in line with my experience. Some may be a little longer, some faster. My views on the long gun registry aside, my experience dealing with the CFO in BC and the Canadian Firearms program has overall been positive and the timelines they give for processing forms have been accurate. Given that hunting season is approaching, there may be more forms to be processed so waiting times may increase - who knows.

[fowlweather]

so i guess that alll the time varies, i bet that they could do it very quickly if they really tried. mind you we will never know what happens behind closed doors.

[new hunter]

5 weeks after I had to resend since mine was returned for missing signatures . Definitely something you want to start as early as possible if you want to hunt . Or consider a crossbow.

[vanislehunter1]

Sent mine away in the middle of May. It's just being sent to me now. I did incorrectly answer one question and I needed to talk to them to verify the questions but still... its ridiculous.

[12 Gauge Slugger]

I just mailed off both of mine 2 weeks ago,.. according to the credit card my hunting license should be in the mail, but no signs from the PAL. I guess at least I'll get to go hunting even if I am stuck with someone else ;)

[billjc33]

4 years ago mine took 8 months It seemed it would never get moved to the next step unless I called them to force the issue. This also included restricted too I think its a little quicker if your just doing long guns.