Hows it going I was wondering if it standard to not hear anything from austin for the last 20 days, I sent em my paperwork and havent recieved anything yet. I thought i was suppose to recieve a pin number and confirmation they recieved my app.
Patience is a virtue young grasshoppa. It takes a while. I sent my stuff in Feb and got a pin in the mail sometime in late March/early April and rec'd my license first of June. I'd say if you dont get a pin within two weeks or so, call em up with a polite inquiry.
I've got students telling me they're getting the "We just started working on your packet" letter between 60 and 90 days. It appears that DPS is backed up like... well... choose your own metaphor.
I'm surprised there are people getting any kind of a letter. If you apply online, when they send the packet to you, it will include your PIN number. If you just mailed in your packet without applying online, it could be anywhere from 45-70 days before you get a PIN number. At about day 45, you can e-mail them requesting your PIN, and they are pretty good about returning your e-mail. Just make sure you include D.L. #, DOB, SSN, Full Name, and address, and date the DPS received letter(you should have sent it with a signature confirmation...if you did not, just note the day you sent it. At about day 90 contact your local representative. They will usually give DPS a call and magically, your application seems to 'finish' processing. Anything before those 'day counts' will probably just get you a form letter saying your 'Application is being entered into the system.'
Good luck, and if I were you, I would just forget you ever sent anything in, that way when it comes it will just seem like an early Christmas present.
The PIN is virtually useless. They're so behind, they don't update the account status for days, even weeks. Checking your status online won't do you any good until they increase their budget and staffing.
If you haven't heard anything coming up on 90 days, you might give them a call. They are a good group of people, but overworked and underpaid. I don't encourage people to call simply because it just adds to their workload when they're doing the best they can.
I've called on a couple of my students' CHLs, only to find that they had already been mailed. There's no magic.