The time from receipt of an application to the issue of a licence can vary considerably from case to case, depending mainly on the accuracy with which the application is completed.
The Department have been endeavouring to change the licensing process, from one in which defective and incomplete applications were accepted and made good by protracted communications between the staff of the Department and the applicants, to one in which the responsibility for accurate and complete applications is placed fully on the applicant and all defective/incomplete applications are returned immediately with an indication of what is required.
The new system is not yet operating satisfactorily in that the majority of applications continue to be incomplete or defective on first receipt in the Department. As a result, delays do occur in many cases between initial receipt of applications and the issuing of the licences.
In the case of complete and accurate applications, the Department is currently aiming to have these issued within about three weeks of application.