A first time applicant for a residence permit should be aware that it can take a couple of months for a first permit to be granted. The majority of applications for a first residence permit are processed within six months.

On the Directorate of Immigration's website, you can see which applications are being processed at the moment. When an application is being processed this means that it has been submitted to a case worker, who will check whether the applicant meets the conditions of the residence permit applied for. 

If an application is filled out correctly and all supporting documents are included, it does not take long for the case worker to process the application.