With a safety case built, the application itself is straightforward, and AC 107-2A lays out the practicalities. The request is submitted to the FAA through its online system for UAS operators. Timing is the part people underestimate: although Part 107 sets no deadline, the FAA’s guidance encourages applicants to submit at least 60 days before the operation is meant to start, and the FAA in turn strives to complete its review and decision within about 60 days — though the actual time varies with the complexity of the request. A waiver is not a same-day tool; it is something you plan for weeks ahead.

On review, the FAA weighs the safety case and reaches one of a few outcomes — and “granted” rarely means “granted exactly as asked.” § 107.200(c) lets the Administrator prescribe any additional limitations it considers necessary, so an approval often arrives with conditions attached: a capped altitude, named observers, a defined area, daylight only. Those conditions are not fine print; they are the terms on which the FAA concluded the operation is safe, and they are part of the grant itself.

A granted certificate then becomes the rulebook for that operation. Under § 107.200(d), the holder may deviate from the rules only to the extent the certificate specifies, and must comply with every condition and limitation it carries. In practice that means reading the certificate closely, flying strictly within it, and keeping it available for the operation. The waiver does not simply switch a rule off — it replaces that rule with the certificate’s own terms, and from then on those terms are what govern the flight.