How quickly can I get my own operating authority??

Your MC application needs to appear publicly in the Federal Register for 10 working days. That would be the minimum. Concurrently, you would have to provide proof of public liability insurance and a list of process agents (among other things) within 20 days.

 

We just completed obtaining our own authority 2 months ago and it took just about 3 weeks from the day we began the process to being able to run under our own authority. A lot of fill out forms, pass over the money and wait and wait.

 

You can expect 3-6 weeks from the time you apply until you can start running under your own authority. It took me about 6 weeks to get my authority. but everything was snail mail back then. We never heard of the internet at that time. It is much easier today and you can do most of it online. Getting your authority is only part of what you need to do in order to get rolling under your own authority.

 

Planning on doing it yourself? You are courageous ! Get ready for filing up forms and forms, and when you are tired, more paper work. I am doing it thru OOIDA, and so far is going on 3 weeks and still waiting.

 

17 days for us, and that was with everything falling into place perfectly. The timeline is in this thread that I hijacked once upon a time. The linked thread may be an interesting one for you if you have the time for it. I've often thought of updating it, but never really get around to it.

I think I've fallen victim to not updating as many others do: in just a few months (weeks maybe? LOL) you will see how trivial and low-stress this issue is compared to what's in front of you.