Originally Posted by
Oaxaca
It’s not a renewal if you apply after the previous one expires, it’s basically a new application (and you don’t benefit from the extension while your application is processed). I applied before the old one expired. My travel history was not blank, it had around 20 other countries in the last 5 years, apart from US/CA/MX.
Agree but if you look at the dp above you can see that even those who have renewed before expiry haven't had renewals that much quicker than those who are freshly applying.
Also if you apply after the previous one expires it still does say 'renew membership' which you click on still to continue and has all your previous info saved like employers home addresses etc so would hesitate to say it's a fresh application. Yes you do lose out on the benefit extension while processing agree.
Would say your wait was atypical but saw a family of US citizens where 2 got it within a week and the minors were waiting months so I think it's purely luck of the draw largely