I had a similar situation. In the mid 80’s I took a misdemeanor assault conviction in NYC for putting a guy in the hospital after a “incident” outside a bar. When I moved to FL my permit app got initially denied, because I “failed to provide proof of 18 months elapsing after disposition” Seriously, it was the 80’s… Anyway, got a lawyer in NY to get me a certificate of disposition from the court. Sent it in. Application goes back to “processing” for six months. During that time, I went and had that conviction sealed, just for the hell of it. Never had a problem before but the lawyer gave me a deal. That got done. FDACS comes back with another “Denied” because FDLE comes back that the conviction was “domestic violence” related. Now, there’s no way in hell the guy who was hitting on my girlfriend in that bar, who I put in the hospital, was a domestic violence incident. I called FDACS and got a very helpful woman who told me FDLE came back with that due to the charge (assault 3rd is used for DV in FL) but since NYC hasn’t responded to the arrest record request, it will stand unless I can provide some evidence. - which by the way is another suck situation. NYC doesn’t respond to any CWP related requests made by FL. Some political BS. Anyway, my excellent lawyer who worked on the COD and sealing order, got the Assistant District Attorney he worked with on my sealing petition, to send a letter on the District Attorney’s office letterhead stating the conviction was not DV related. I sent it in to FDACS and boom, had my permit exactly 9 days later.
All in all, 14 months had passed since my initial application. My experience shows that FDACS is currently overwhelmed with the huge number of new residents flooding Florida, and those with “checkered” pasts like myself just have to deal with delays and a little hoop jumping.