Got approval letter for NY unemployment but no money yet - when will payment arrive?

congrats on approval! usually takes 2-3 business days after your first certification for $ to show up if direct deposit. might be longer if you chose debit card option. check your payment history on the website to see if it shows as 'released' or 'pending'

The timeline varies but generally your first payment takes longer than subsequent ones. For most people in 2025, the first payment arrives 5-7 business days after certification IF everything is properly set up. The DOL needs to verify your information, process your claim, and release funds. Have you received the monetary determination letter yet? That's separate from the approval letter and gives specific benefit calculation details. Also, verify that your direct deposit information is correct in your online account.

the first payment ALWAYS takes longer!! when i got approved in january i got my letter on a tuesday and money didn't hit until the next friday. after that it was regular every week. just wait a few more days before panicking

Did you check if there are any outstanding issues or holds on your account? Sometimes they approve you but then put a hold for identity verification or something else. You should log into your account and look for any messages or alerts. There might be additional documents they need before releasing payment. This happened to me and I didn't realize it for 3 weeks!!!

If you need to speak with someone at NYSDOL directly about your payment status, good luck getting through on the phone lines - they're still terrible in 2025! I was in your exact situation last month and spent DAYS trying to reach someone. I ended up using Claimyr (claimyr.com) and it got me through to an agent in about 30 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Rdqa1gKtxuE. The agent was able to tell me exactly what was causing my delay (turned out there was a flag on my account that wasn't visible online). Might be worth it if you're really worried about the timing.

I work with unemployment claims frequently. Here's what's happening: When you're newly approved, your first payment goes through additional verification steps that subsequent payments don't require. The system shows 'pending' until those checks are complete. In January 2025, NYSDOL implemented new fraud prevention measures that added 1-2 business days to first payment processing times. As long as your direct deposit information is correct and there are no holds on your account (which would be clearly indicated in your online portal), you should receive payment within 7 business days of your first certification. If it goes beyond that timeframe, then I would recommend contacting them directly.

I'm in the EXACT same boat!!!! Got approved last week, certified Sunday, and still waiting for money. So frustrated because my car payment is due tomorrow and I have like $12 in my account. Did you have to do the ID.me verification thing? I had to upload my driver's license and take a selfie video. Wonder if that's causing delays???

my cousin works for nysdol and he says they batch process payments twice a week now. if you just missed the cutoff you gotta wait for the next batch. also depends on your bank some take longer to post the deposit

To update everyone on this thread: As of April 2025, NYSDOL processes payment batches on Tuesdays and Fridays. If your certification is processed after the Tuesday batch, you'll be in Friday's batch. Then your bank's processing time adds 1-3 business days depending on the financial institution. For the original poster, since you certified on Sunday and it's now Thursday, your payment was likely included in Tuesday's batch and should arrive by Friday or Monday at the latest, assuming no holds on your account.