Chronos wrote:BFS in the interest of stopping corruption and printing fake licenses the printing of photo licenses has been centralised and taken out of the hands of RMS offices
Chronos
Some of the larger RMS offices still print licences on the spot, I know St Mary's RMS does as I have one done there recently. As others said, it's a 3-5 day wait to get the photo advice once the online status changes to issued. The "Not Authorised" bit means that you have a license but cannot purchase / use firearms till it's issued by the RMS as they need to verify your ID.
My advice is, get some PTA forms ready to post the day you get your licence as you're up for a minimum of 4-6 weeks to get the first ones back. Make sure to get at least 1 Cat A and 1 Cat B, the PTA is valid for 3 months so even if you don't have something in mind today at least you have a PTA and don't have to wait if you find something.