How long does LegitScript certification take?

LegitScript does not publish a review time and states it cannot give estimates, because each review depends on queue position, application complexity and how quickly the applicant answers questions. The only timeline anyone can honestly offer is a record of decisions already issued: applications we prepared and filed have been approved in as little as 3 days, and in roughly two weeks from submission to a decision at the outer end.

Last updated 13 Aug 2026

Key takeaways

LegitScript states plainly: "Because each application review is unique, we are unable to give time estimates."
Expedited processing guarantees the review STARTS within two business days of submission. It does not guarantee when the review finishes.
The variables LegitScript names are queue order, application complexity, applicant responsiveness, and the sufficiency of the answers given.
Two of those four (responsiveness and answer quality) are entirely under the applicant's control, which is where preparation earns its keep.
A promised approval date is a claim about a decision LegitScript alone makes, and nobody outside LegitScript is in a position to commit to one.
A reported result is a different thing entirely: applications we prepared and filed have been approved in as little as 3 days, and in roughly two weeks from submission to a decision at the outer end.

What LegitScript actually says

LegitScript declines to estimate. Its published FAQ states that review length depends on the order applications are received, the complexity of the application, applicant responsiveness, and the sufficiency and transparency of the answers provided.

It is worth taking that at face value rather than treating it as evasion. A certification review is an investigation, and an investigation that finds something has to follow it.

The practical reading is that there are two clocks. The first is the queue: how long before anyone looks at your file. That one you can buy down with expedited processing. The second is the review itself, which runs as long as the questions take to resolve.

What expedited processing does and does not do

Expedited processing buys a start, not a finish. It moves your application forward so review begins within two business days of submission, and it changes nothing about how long the review itself runs.

It is charged separately, per application, on top of the application fee. What it buys is queue position: your file is opened within two business days rather than whenever it comes up in the order received.

So it is worth paying for when waiting is the thing costing you money: an ad account suspended, a processor holding settlement, a launch that cannot move. It buys nothing at all if the file is not ready, because an incomplete application reaches a reviewer sooner and then stops in exactly the place it would have stopped anyway.

The part of the timeline you control

Two of the four factors LegitScript names are yours: how fast you respond to a request for information, and whether your answers are sufficient the first time. A complete, internally consistent application is the only lever an applicant genuinely has.

In practice, the applications that stall share a pattern. A question comes back, the answer takes eleven days to assemble because the person who knows it is on holiday, the answer raises a second question, and a file that was days from a decision is now weeks from one.

What we commit to is our half of that clock: your application prepared and submitted in under two weeks. Those two weeks are preparation and filing, not review. LegitScript sets the pace of the review and decides the outcome. Requests for information are answered the day they arrive, so nothing on the file is ever waiting on us.

What our own applications have actually been decided in

LegitScript commits to no timeline, so the only timeline we can honestly publish is our own record. Applications we prepared and filed have been approved in as little as 3 days, and in roughly two weeks from submission to a decision at the outer end.

Those are observed results across completed applications. They are not typical outcomes, they are not a commitment, and they are not something LegitScript has agreed to. A file submitted on a Monday may be decided on the Thursday or a month later, and nothing here changes who sets that pace.

What the record does show is where the time goes. The applications decided fastest arrived complete: every domain disclosed, every claim on the website already defensible, every licence and pharmacy relationship documented before anyone asked for it. The slow ones were slow for the opposite reason: a question came back, and the answer took a fortnight to assemble.

So the honest reading of "as little as 3 days" is not that approval is fast. It is that a reviewer with no questions has nothing to wait for, and that the part of the wait an applicant can remove is the part that happens before submission.

Frequently asked questions

Can anyone guarantee a LegitScript approval date?

No. LegitScript decides each application and states it cannot estimate review times. Any specific approval date offered by a third party is a promise about something they do not control. What can be quoted honestly is a record of decisions already issued: ours have come back in as little as 3 days, and in roughly two weeks from submission at the outer end.

Is expedited processing worth it?

It is worth it when queue time is your bottleneck, for example when advertising or payment processing is already blocked. It removes waiting-to-be-looked-at, not the review itself.

What slows an application down the most?

Requests for information that take a long time to answer, and answers that raise further questions. Both are avoidable with preparation, and both are named by LegitScript as factors in review length.