Finally got mine today!!
I got my 4 year in 2008 via the paper route with no issues. It was set to expire on September 20th, so on September 17 I applied to renew it to a lifetime. I paid the L1 fee and got printed on the 18th then went immediately to the local PD, dropped off paperwork and paid local fee.
Apparently because I have an arrest on my record, and I disclosed it*, my application automatically went into a pile for "further review". I started calling early November and they told me it would likely be at least 2 more weeks. Starting in December I became more persistent in my calls, and last week after calling Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to check the status I was transferred to someone in charge who took on my case personally. He called ME Thursday morning to update me that he was working on verifying the arrest history, but it was more involved than expected due to my charges being dropped. He called back Friday afternoon to tell me that it was all cleared and my LTCH had been printed and would be in the mail on Monday!
*Lesson learned if you were not "convicted", do not disclose the charges on the app, it will severely delay processing time.
IANAL, YMMV.
TL;DR?
Takes way longer with an arrest even with L1.
I got my 4 year in 2008 via the paper route with no issues. It was set to expire on September 20th, so on September 17 I applied to renew it to a lifetime. I paid the L1 fee and got printed on the 18th then went immediately to the local PD, dropped off paperwork and paid local fee.
Apparently because I have an arrest on my record, and I disclosed it*, my application automatically went into a pile for "further review". I started calling early November and they told me it would likely be at least 2 more weeks. Starting in December I became more persistent in my calls, and last week after calling Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to check the status I was transferred to someone in charge who took on my case personally. He called ME Thursday morning to update me that he was working on verifying the arrest history, but it was more involved than expected due to my charges being dropped. He called back Friday afternoon to tell me that it was all cleared and my LTCH had been printed and would be in the mail on Monday!
*Lesson learned if you were not "convicted", do not disclose the charges on the app, it will severely delay processing time.
IANAL, YMMV.
TL;DR?
Takes way longer with an arrest even with L1.