Persistence May Help Move BIS Licenses Amid Delays, Industry Officials Say
Companies that are still waiting for export licensing decisions amid delays at the Bureau of Industry and Security should remain persistent and leverage whatever connections they have -- either through trade organizations or political avenues -- to try to get their application moving, industry officials said this week.
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“I think persistence is the key,” said Jackson Wood, director for industry strategy at Descartes, during the company's webinar. Exporters should be “very measured but also very consistent” when asking for status updates about their license applications, especially if the application is delaying an important transaction for the applicant’s business.
“We have heard of people that, through a consistent and aligned engagement approach, are getting answers with some degree of consistency,” Wood said. “But mileage really does seem to vary.”
BIS has been plagued with licensing delays for the last year, especially after Trump administration officials ordered a pause in early 2025 on new license approvals (see 2502130068). That pause was later partially lifted and reinstated multiple times as the administration scrutinized BIS licensing policies and procedures (see 2502190018, 2502280006, 2504140055, 2508140010 and 2510040001).
If the export is very important, Wood said the company should try to leverage any “access you may have” to push BIS to move faster, “whether that's through an industry association or any other potentially policy-related or political relationships that you might have.” Along with companies, he said he has even heard of other governments speaking to BIS about the delays.
“I would also offer that whatever relationships you may have, if you are waiting what seems to be an insufferably long time for some answers from BIS, to use those relationships to try to get some degree of insight about where your application may stand,” he said.
While some exporters are still trying to push BIS to make progress on their applications, Wood said others have given up. “I do know, in speaking with customers and stakeholders, that a number of organizations have just timed out on this and said, ‘Look, forget it. We're not even going to bother.’”
Chuck Nagel, director of customer implementation and support for Descartes, said licensing officers at both the Commerce and State departments are strained with a “tremendous amount” of work. He also suggested that employee turnover within BIS has exacerbated the issue.
“Part of it is that they're doing either the same amount of work or more with less people,” Nagel said. “On the Commerce side, for sure, there's a lot of new licensing officers, and it takes a little bit more time for them to understand -- it's a training process.”
While "persistence is key," Nagel said some delays may be unavoidable. “Keep in mind some of the stuff going on behind the scenes, where your licensing officer may be -- I'll say newer -- and they also are looking at a workload that's significantly higher than historically a licensing officer may have.”
A BIS spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.