Application Processing & Turnaround

Annual throughput of GMRS applications through the FCC ULS processing pipeline: receipts, grants, and dismissals.

19 Days Median
Application Dismissal Latency

90% of dismissals occur within 21 days. Abandonment at the fee-payment step, not rejection.

Measured over NE applications received from 2020-01-01 to 2026-09-06, dismissed.

New license NE

Year Received Granted Dismissed Withdrawn Pending Dismissal Rate
2026 YTD 66,044 61,368 4,182 0 494 7.0% receipts to 2026-09-06
2025 Outage* 68,960 63,276 5,667 0 17 8.2%
2024 108,322 99,701 8,593 0 28 7.9%
2023 71,089 63,663 7,401 0 25 10.4%
2022 70,099 61,359 8,720 0 20 12.4%
2021 49,984 44,463 5,512 0 9 11.0%
2020 34,030 30,776 3,243 0 11 9.5%
2019 15,207 13,076 2,125 0 6 14.0%
2018 12,320 10,565 1,750 0 5 14.2%

Renewal RO

Year Received Granted Dismissed Withdrawn Pending Dismissal Rate
2026 YTD 27 8 19 0 0 70.8% receipts to 2026-09-06
2025 Outage* 47 8 39 0 0 83.0%
2024 95 0 95 0 0 100.0%
2023 127 0 127 0 0 100.0%
2022 2,802 2,528 274 0 0 9.8%
2021 3,719 3,449 269 0 1 7.2%
2020 3,262 3,049 213 0 0 6.5%
2019 3,051 2,819 232 0 0 7.6%
2018 3,213 2,992 221 0 0 6.9%

Modification MD

Year Received Granted Dismissed Withdrawn Pending Dismissal Rate
2021 1 0 1 0 0 100.0%

Other

Year Received Granted Dismissed Withdrawn Pending Dismissal Rate
2026 YTD 5,674 5,340 135 121 78 —
2025 Outage* 5,273 4,918 197 121 37 —
2024 6,606 6,035 265 271 35 —
2023 5,190 4,743 186 238 23 —
2022 4,940 4,354 262 312 12 —
2021 3,965 3,573 225 155 12 —
2020 2,981 2,723 144 107 7 —
2019 1,933 1,776 98 59 0 —
2018 1,955 1,809 93 53 0 —

Received counts every application by the year it arrived; pending ones have no outcome yet. A dismissal rate counts only receipts at least 60 days old, so recent applications that haven't had time to be dismissed don't pull it down: where a row's rate stops short of the year's end, the cut-off is shown beneath it. * 2025 totals are depressed by an upstream gap: FCC ULS offline during the federal government shutdown beginning 2025-10-01. October has no receipts at all; November is partially recovered and is published as observed.

Application Influx & Processing Velocity by Day of the Week

Granted applications received on or after 2018-01-01; receipts count receipt_date and grants count last_action_date, so a row's two columns describe different applications.

Monday Intake Share 35.9% 179,107 receipts
Tuesday Grant Peak 33.5% 166,952 grants
Weekend Influx <0.01% 1 receipts; the rest queue for Monday
Saturday Grants 14.9% 74,496 grants
Batch Processing Overnight Batch 24–48h turnaround
Day of Week Applications Received Intake Share Licenses Granted Grant Share Pipeline Dynamics
Monday Intake Peak 179,107 35.9% 1,447 0.3% Weekend Queue Intake — ULS logs all applications accumulated across Friday evening through Sunday.
Tuesday Grant Peak 100,970 20.3% 166,952 33.5% Primary Grant Peak — Automated overnight batch clearing processes Monday's massive intake volume.
Wednesday 73,596 14.8% 103,461 20.8% Mid-Week Processing — Consistent automated grant throughput for Tuesday filings.
Thursday 73,381 14.7% 77,467 15.5% Mid-Week Steady State — Normal automated overnight clearing for Wednesday filings.
Friday 71,316 14.3% 74,522 15.0% End-of-Week Influx — Submissions filed prior to weekend queue hold.
Saturday 1 0.0% 74,496 14.9% Friday Batch Clearing — Automated clearing completes Friday processing overnight into Saturday.
Sunday 0 0.0% 26 0.0% Pipeline Inactive — Zero intake recorded; batch clearing paused (manual exceptions only).
The 24-to-48 Hour Pipeline Turnaround Explained

Applicants frequently observe that filing over the weekend results in a grant early in the week. The record supports it: while the FCC Universal Licensing System accepts web filings around the clock, a filing submitted over the weekend is logged with a Monday receipt date. 35.9% of applications are received on Monday (179,107 filings), and Tuesday is the dominant grant day (166,952 grants, 33.5%). Friday intake likewise clears into Saturday (74,496 grants, 14.9%), while Sunday is near-idle in both columns.

The two columns count different applications, so the pairing above is a pattern in the margins rather than a traced cohort. Joining each granted application's receipt date to its own action date confirms it directly: the median gap is 1 day (90% within 2; NE applications received from 2020-01-01 to 2026-09-06, granted). Dates here are transaction dates, offset one day from the FCC file that reports them — see Methodology.

Filing Method Modernization (Online vs. Paper)

Historical breakdown of electronic submissions vs. traditional mail-in FCC Form 605 paper applications.

Calendar Year Online (Electronic ULS) Paper (Form 605 Mail-in) Total Submissions Electronic Adoption Rate Status
2026 71,744 1 71,745 99.999% Virtually 100% Digital
2025 74,277 3 74,280 99.996% Virtually 100% Digital
2024 115,013 10 115,023 99.991% Virtually 100% Digital
2023 76,399 7 76,406 99.991% Virtually 100% Digital
2022 77,829 12 77,841 99.985% Near Extinction
2021 57,600 69 57,669 99.880% Legacy Residual
2020 40,166 107 40,273 99.734% Legacy Residual
The Disappearance of Paper GMRS Applications

Under FCC regulations, applicants technically retain the right to mail a physical FCC Form 605 with payment to the FCC lockbox in St. Louis or Gettysburg. However, paper processing carries higher delays (weeks vs. overnight) and complex fee-handling logistics. Since the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2022 fee reduction, paper submissions have dropped from 107 in 2020 to 1 in 2026, making GMRS one of the most thoroughly digitized licensing services administered by the FCC.