I have thought the same thing too. At the very least at least have their direct email. That would eliminate the 3-5 day wait for them to get more documents/information from the mariner.Considering the evaluators probably don’t get OT and are only working a 40 hr work week, if mariners had their direct phone line, most of their day the phones would be blown up taking calls, dealing with hotheads directly and that would be counter productive.
Eximaners would be dealing with phone calls and get NOTHING done. Nobody’s package would ever get processed. That would be a terminally broken system.
I can definitely agree something needs to change over there. A lack of employees seems to be 1 of the issues.
And in my situation a lack of communication between the NMC and TSA.
EliminateNMC and send licensing back to the RECs.
Not many delays or problems at RECs when they were doing it. If one REC was overwhelmed, you could always got to another. Most important thing was being able to speak with the evaluator in person to resolve questions. A fast and reliable process for mariners who need their documents to sail.
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A month seems like a reasonable goal for reviewing and approving applications and renewals. I’m going to assume the staff at the NMS are professionals doing their best at their job. They have my email and phone number. If they think the fastest way to complete my application is to call me, that’s up to them.
I’ve used the chat help several times and every time have received prompt and even immediate answers to questions.
There were signatures missing and pages missing in my application, the Juneau REC were in touch with me the same day to get the additional information and forwarded it to NMC within a couple days.
I’m not interested in parsing what a backlog is. Obviously if they are shutdown for a month, that creates a “backlog” whatever it’s called.
Renewing with NMC is simple: 1 use a good license consultant, and 2 renew at least a year early.
If you are making a routine application for new endorsements, you get it either in a few weeks or months.
If you are making a non-routine application with limited tonnage seatime, combined tug/barge tonnage seatime, or anything else out of the ordinary, assume it will take 6 to 12 months.
If you think that’s acceptable, there is a job in government bureaucracy waiting for you.
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Glad I never said that.
Just received two emails. First that my application was assigned and a second about 45 minutes later saying my license is issued!
That’s about 7 weeks.
Pleased!
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Is that seven weeks for a simple renewal?
No. It’s 7 weeks for a new 100T license with sail and towing, background check, medical cert. Once assigned to someone, each of these approvals was done in hours. My guess is they are incredibly under-staffed.
Today marks almost 13 weeks for me and my status is still at the security phase/beginning. I’m so over it, they say they got it figured out yet no progress. Amd when I call the TSA or NMC it’s just a run around. I mean I got a job lined up for a 500+ passenger boat and I’m just screwed making no money rite now. So after seeing it being the 90 day mark I am currently searching for legal assistance.
That absolutely sucks.
Even when I did the 1,600 ton Master to Master unlimited inland to 2m oceans path and had to teach the evaluator their own rules and regulations it only took ~2 weeks.
A few bad experiences doesn’t make that the normal.
So the license consultant I’m talking to sent an email over and said i’ll be seeking Legal assistance if something dosen’t change by end of week. He seems to think it will light a fire under their ass. I sure as hell hope so. We will see…
TSA has not fixed what ever this issue is yet and still no progress. 7/18/19
Get you Senator’s local office on this. Go see them in person.
Update, Called NMC and they said they have received my faxed copy of my TWIC card and are forcing it thru the system so I can move onto the next stage. Already received my medical cert so i’m hoping it will be approved and issued in the next few weeks. They said it should be moved onto next stage in next few days. Not gonna hold my breath but we will see…
Well I knew that wasn’t gonna happen. No movement in my application yet and I just keep getting the run around. What a joke!
What are your Congresscritters doing for you? What have you heard back from them?