How long does it take to get your Part 107 certificate?

Most new pilots can print a temporary Part 107 certificate within about one to two weeks of passing the knowledge test, and the permanent card typically arrives by mail six to ten weeks after that. The temporary carries the full privileges of the certificate, so the practical answer to how long it takes to start flying commercially is usually days, not months, while the answer to when the plastic arrives is a season. Both clocks start the moment you pass, and both depend on paperwork you control and vetting you do not.

This article walks the timeline in order: the first 48 hours after the test, the application and the security check behind it, then the temporary certificate and the long tail waiting for the card. It closes with what a company should be recording while a new pilot waits, because the gap between passing and plastic is exactly when onboarding records tend to go missing.

From test day to application: the first 48 hours

The testing center gives you a passing Airman Knowledge Test Report on the spot, but the electronic result takes time to move. Vendors transmit scores to the FAA's systems on a short delay, commonly a day or two, and the certificate application cannot attach a result the system has not received. Testing on Monday and filing Wednesday is a normal cadence; filing an hour after the exam usually just produces an error and a support search. The productive use of the gap is assembling what the application needs: legal name exactly as identified at the test, addresses, and the report itself.

The application also assumes you already exist in the FAA's applicant system, because registering there generated the tracking number the test was booked under. That means the first 48 hours involve no new accounts, only logging back in. Candidates sponsored by a company should confirm one more detail before filing: which mailing address the permanent card should go to. The certificate is personal and follows the pilot, but a card mailed to an old apartment is the single most common self inflicted delay in the whole process.

Filing in IACRA and the TSA check

The application itself is electronic Form 8710-13, completed and signed inside the FAA's certification portal at the IACRA site. The form takes minutes: personal details, the knowledge test information, a few attestations, and an electronic signature. Filing costs nothing. Submission hands the application to the Transportation Security Administration for security vetting, which is the one stage of the timeline with no status bar and no phone number that helps. For most applicants the vetting clears in days; a couple of weeks is unremarkable; longer waits happen and resolve without explanation.

When the vetting clears, the FAA emails instructions to sign back into the portal and print the temporary certificate. Until that email arrives there is nothing to expedite and nobody to call, which is worth telling new pilots plainly so they stop refreshing. What a program can do during the wait is administrative: confirm the pilot's file already holds the test report and application date, and hold off on committing that pilot to client work until the temporary is in hand, because no privileges exist until it is.

The temporary certificate and the wait for the card

The temporary remote pilot certificate is a printable document valid for 120 days, and it carries the full privileges of the permanent certificate from the moment it is issued. A pilot with a printed temporary and government photo identification can fly paid work, request authorizations, and be listed on jobs like any other certificated pilot. When the rule was written the FAA planned on six to eight weeks to produce permanent cards, and pilots today commonly report six to ten, which is why the temporary's validity is as long as it is.

The 120 days usually suffices, but not always. If the window is closing with no card, the FAA's airman database will show whether the permanent certificate has been issued, and its online airman services can extend temporary authority while the mail catches up. The permanent card, when it arrives, brings the certificate number that follows the pilot for life. That number, the issue date, and a scan of the card should go straight into the pilot's file, because every later renewal, verification, and audit starts from exactly those details.

The waiting period is when the pilot record gets built

A new pilot's file is easiest to build while everything is happening and impossible to reconstruct two years later. Between test day and the card, a program accumulates the test report, the application date, the temporary certificate with its issue and expiry dates, and finally the permanent number, each arriving on its own schedule through the pilot's personal email. If nobody collects them as they land, the program's record of its own pilot is a forwarding request away from incomplete, and the first audit or client questionnaire proves it.

The discipline is simple: treat each milestone as a filing event. Test passed, report filed. Application submitted, date logged. Temporary printed, copy and expiry recorded, and a reminder set against the 120 days. Card arrived, number and issue date entered, scan attached. Five minutes at each step produces a complete certification history in the program's own records, independent of any one inbox. The pilots will not do this on their own, not from negligence but because to them it feels like personal paperwork. To the program, it is infrastructure.

Common mistakes in waiting on a Part 107 certificate

Filing the application within hours of testing. The electronic result usually needs a day or two to reach the FAA's systems, and the application cannot attach a score that is not there yet. Filing on day two beats troubleshooting on day zero.

Flying on the passing test alone. A passed exam confers nothing. Privileges begin when the temporary certificate is issued and printed, and paid work flown in the gap is uncertificated operation no matter how confident the score was.

Letting the temporary quietly expire. The 120 days usually outlasts the mail, but not always. Log the expiry date when the temporary prints, and if the window gets tight, check the airman database and request extended temporary authority instead of grounding the pilot.

Sending the card to the wrong address. The permanent certificate mails to the address on the application. New hires who file with an old address add weeks of forwarding to a wait that was already the longest part of the process.

Leaving every document in the pilot's inbox. The report, application date, temporary, and card each arrive separately. Programs that do not file them as they land end up with certificated pilots whose certification history the company cannot produce on demand.

FAQ

How long until you can legally fly after passing the test?

Usually one to two weeks. The result transmits to the FAA, the application is filed, TSA vetting clears, and the printable temporary certificate is issued with full privileges. Some applicants clear in days; occasional vetting delays stretch longer without explanation.

How long does the permanent Part 107 card take to arrive?

Commonly six to ten weeks after the application, mailed to the address on file. The FAA's original planning figure was six to eight weeks, and the 120 day temporary exists precisely to cover that production and mailing window.

What can you do if the temporary certificate is about to expire?

Check the FAA's airman database to see if the permanent certificate has been issued, then use the FAA's online airman services to request extended temporary authority. Do not keep flying on an expired temporary while the card is missing.

Does the temporary certificate limit what work you can take?

No. The temporary carries the full privileges of the remote pilot certificate for its 120 day validity. Carry the printed temporary with government photo identification when operating, exactly as you would carry the permanent card later.

Closing thought

The honest answer to the timeline question is two answers. Flying starts in about a week or two, when the temporary certificate prints. The wallet card takes a couple of months, and nothing you do after filing speeds either one up. What you control is the paperwork on your side of the line: a clean application, a correct mailing address, and a file that captures each document as it appears.

If you are onboarding pilots who are waiting on their Part 107 certificates, FlybyOps was built for the operational record problem at the center of regulated drone work. A pilot registry that tracks certification and currency, a document vault with expiration tracking, role-based access control, and an append-only audit log are all part of how the platform keeps a new pilot's application dates, temporary certificate, and permanent number in one file from day one.