DBPR APPLICATION STATUS INQUIRY ISSUES
The DBPR is still short-staffed and backlogged; even though the DBPR will not guarantee processing times, applications are averaging 5 weeks for processing (processing, not necessarily approval as some applications get sent to the CILB for Board review.)
If you are looking at your “Application Status Inquiry” and you see that items are marked as “Deficient”, that normally means that the examiners have not gotten to that part yet. If you need clarification of what the DBPR’s website is indicating regarding your application progress, you must call the DBPR at 850-487-1395.
THE ONLY WAY YOU WILL KNOW IF YOUR APPLICATION IS TRULY DEFICIENT IS IF YOU GET AN EMAIL FROM THE DBPR WITH A LETTER SPECIFICALLY STATING YOUR APPLICATION IS DEFICIENT. THE LETTER WILL CONTAIN INSTRUCTIONS ON WHAT YOU NEED TO DO NEXT.
Unless you have a deficiency letter from the DBPR, please do not call us; it is the DBPR’s responsibility to tell you what these items mean on their website. If you have questions on what the online Application Status Inquiry means, YOU MUST CALL THE DBPR AT 850-487-1395. That website belongs to the DBPR, the DBPR has control over it! We cannot help it if the DBPR is unable to correct their website due to technical issues they are having or provide applicants with a legend of what each of those items means.
If you look online and see that credit reports or fingerprints are marked as deficient, then you need to check your email for a deficiency letter. If you do not have a deficiency letter, then you need to call the DBPR at 850-487-1395, give them your application number or social security number and ask the DBPR if there is a deficiency. We realize that it’s counter-productive to stay on hold for a long time, but that is the DBPR’s responsibility and not ours. We will no longer discuss potential deficiencies if you cannot provide us with a valid deficiency letter on DBPR letterhead because these calls cost valuable productivity time, forcing me into 16-20 hour workdays.
We have been trying help mitigate these issues where we can, but we are so inundated with calls from people whom we have not done any business with consuming our time, causing our paying clients to get upset with us, and resulting in a lot of unnecessary stress. I cannot help it if hold times are unreasonably long with the DBPR; we are a private business and not a tax-payer-funded government office. Long hold times are the State’s responsibility; I feel bad for everyone waiting on a license, but only your regulator has control or responsibility for long processing times and long hold times on the phone.
Remember, NO ONE can guarantee a license or a timeframe for a license. Also remember that NO ONE can expedite your license application to get worked on sooner than anyone elses’. The DBPR is very good about being fair to everyone – treating every application the same as the next.
So be patient, let the DBPR get caught up, and use your Powers of Common Sense as you patiently wait for the State of Florida DBPR to process your licensing application.
God Bless Governor Ron DeSantis and God Bless the Great State of Florida!
Robin
