TexasCHLforum.com

Hey all! I've been lurking on this forum for a while, reading up on various things, got some help specifically regarding my application documents etc. (just from reading advice and experiences from others) - Being a naturalized foreigner I had some concerns about the appropriate documents that would be needed, how to copy and send them etc.

- I'm really grateful to the helpful folks on this board and that this resource exists!

I wanted to share my positive experience with regards to processing time. I was really expecting a much longer wait given that I'm a naturalized citizen/Texan, however I was pleasantly surprised by DPS' turnaround of my CHL.

After applying online and doing my fingerprints at L-1, I signed up for a class at Shoot Smart in Ft Worth (I LOVE that place!) - The class was great and Jeff the instructor was obviously very experienced. A 10 hour class is pretty long, however he made it very interactive and I was surprised how thought-provoking it was.

Anyways, Here's my timeline. I hope it gives some other folks hope that TxDPS isn't always slow:

6/3 - Class Completed
6/4 - Mailed Application and documents (certified)
6/6 - USPS shows receipt of documents by DPS
6/14 - Website showed 'materials received - Background check pending'
6/28 - Background check complete
6/28 - Manufacturing Pending
6/29 - Manufacturing
6/30 - License Mailed
7/5 - License received in mail (would have probably been independence day if the mail ran that day )

So, pretty much bang-on 30 days from me dropping it in the mail to receiving the license back. I was really very surprised that it was as short a wait as it was (but yeah it still seemed like forever. I know, I know, I'm very grateful it was so short) - in those 30 days I received my CrossBreed, sent my carry gun back to Sig for some work and received it back, all coming together nicely right in the last few days.

It might have helped the process that I've lived in Denton County exclusively for at least the last 10 years versus moving between counties. I'm sure when that's the case it's a little more challenging for them to gather all the right info to complete the BG check.

Anyways I just wanted to say "Hi" and "Thanks" to everyone on the board. I hope you're all aware that you're helping way more folks than just those registered. I'm sure I'm just one of many many lurkers who have gotten a ton of valuable information from the forum and have been helped on their way on this journey! I also wanted to make sure to give you "waiting room" guys some hope that things at the DPS can move quickly, since a large portion of the 'waiting room' posts are from folks on quite lengthy waits.

I appreciate y'all!

Jase aka TelnetDoogie

Glad the forum has been informative for you, and welcome!

Oh and congrats on your plastic.

I too am a naturalised foreigner and my license took 28 days mailbox to mailbox. Maybe us foreigners get special treatment!!

By looking at my username, you would easily guess that I am from Britain. I have lived here for 12 years, but only the last 3 in Texas. So, I don't think you living in Denton County all this time could have sped things up much.

Where do you originate from and what brought you to Texas?

Congrats on the CHL!

Would you care to explain your username? Are you an IT person?

I'm a fellow Brit too :) I've lived in the US for 15 years now and you'd have to drag me yelling and screaming if you wanted me to live in the UK again! No animosity, but I just LOVE Texas. (people who don't are NUTS!)

Originally from Rugby in Warwickshire.

Yeah I'm an IT dork. I don't know how the 'doogie' part came about, to be perfectly honest, I think at the time (back in '95) it just sounded cool to me and I used it online, but some years after I'd been using that moniker, some also-über-geek friends and I purchased the telnet.org domain and we've had it ever since. (we wanted to make sure there would always be a place for old school telnet users long after the world forgot about it) 'doogie' became way too popular online and so I became telnetdoogie since I was pretty much guaranteed that no one else would use it :) it's served me well over the years.

Nice to see another fellow Brit! I got interested in guns through some folks at work and, having 2 kids (boys) I figured I needed to educate myself a little better since I knew they'd be around guns at their friends houses etc. I figured I needed to know the basics so I could teach them safety etc and how to respect firearms so they wouldn't be 'taboo' as they grew up. I take them shooting with me when I can and I make sure they know the ins and outs and what to/not to do around firearms.

Anyways, after I started shooting and visiting the range pretty often, well... You know what happens next. I now have an expensive hobby, a burning desire for 'just one more' gun, and a strong interest in exercising and preserving my 2nd amendment right as well as protecting myself and my loved ones!

So we are not only fellow Brits, but we are both named Jason! Plus i'm also an Engineer (Electronics Hardware), and I have two boys!! The oldest is 4 and the young one is 18months. My home town is stoke on trent in Staffordshire.

I had an interest in guns about 20 years ago. A friend of my dad shot sporting clays and asked if we wanted to join him and it turned into a great father/son hobby every sunday. We did that for quite a few years until I finally moved into my own place. Once I moved to America, I did shoot some pistols at the range, but never really got back into it. I guess it wasn't the same experience as shooting clays with my dad.

Now I am married and have my one kids, i'd like to share the same experience with them as they grow up. It may be a few years before they are shooting shotguns, but I might try a .22 rifle in a year or two.

I took my CHL class because I saw a Groupon deal. Since I had the kids, I have been wanting to do it for their safety and protection, but kept putting it off. The groupon deal helped me make the decision to finally get it done. It was only after I had my CHL that I discovered that my town police department holds FREE quarterly CHL classes for residents!!

I only have one gun right now, and that is my carry pistol, a Springfield XDm .45ACP 3.8' compact. Hopefully a shotgun or AR will be my next purchase! Hard to convince the wife to let me do it though. She is not that enthusiastic of my new interest.

One thing you didn't mention in your timeline is when you had your fingerprints taken. I did mine early on in the process and I think that might be the real reason that the DPS process went quickly.

Where abouts do you live in Texas? What do you like about it?

Fellow Brit here also ...... i also got my CHL in around 30 days

It does seem that the earlier the fingerprints are submitted the shorter the background check time. It might be a good suggestion to sticky.

I waited a full six months from my class till I submitted my documents, doing my prints on the same day I submitted my packet.

I Bet if I had done my prints after the class, my background check would have been faster.

Well, (I had to think about it for a bit) I completed the online application on 5/27 and had my fingerprints done at L-1 on 5/30. So less than a week ahead of my sent package (fingerprints on a Wednesday, class completed that following Sunday 6/3, and packet sent off the next day, on the Monday 6/4.)

So there wasn't a significant 'lead time' on my fingerprints.