How do you know you're approved for unemployment benefits with NYS Department of Labor?

The monetary determination letter is a good sign but it's not the final approval. You'll get a separate determination letter that specifically says whether your claim is approved or denied. Until then, keep filing your weekly claims even if they show $0 - that's normal during the review process. The approval letter will come by mail and also show up in your my.ny.gov inbox.

took me like 3 weeks to get my approval letter last year, but once it came my payments started within a few days

You can also check your claim status by logging into my.ny.gov and looking at your payment history. Once you're approved, you'll see actual payment amounts instead of $0. The key things to watch for: 1) Monetary determination (which you got), 2) Non-monetary determination (approval/denial), 3) First payment posting to your account. If your claim goes into adjudication, that can add several weeks to the process.

I had the worst time trying to get through to NYS Department of Labor to check on my claim status. Spent hours on hold just to get disconnected. Finally found this service called Claimyr at claimyr.com that helped me get through to an actual agent who could explain my claim status. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. Saved me so much frustration trying to call myself.

The whole system is so confusing! I got my monetary determination 2 weeks ago showing $380/week but still haven't gotten any actual approval. Meanwhile my friend filed after me and already got approved. Makes no sense

Different claims process at different speeds depending on your employment history and reason for separation. If you were laid off from a straightforward job, approval is usually quick. If you quit, were fired, or had multiple employers, it takes longer for them to verify everything. The important thing is to keep filing your weekly claims and respond promptly to any requests for additional information.

I went through this same situation a few months ago and the waiting is definitely nerve-wracking! One thing that helped me was setting up direct deposit if you haven't already - once you're approved, payments come faster that way than waiting for debit cards or checks. Also, make sure you're checking both your my.ny.gov messages AND your physical mail regularly. Sometimes the approval letter shows up in one place before the other. In my case, I saw the approval in my online account a day before the letter arrived. Hang in there - 10 days is still within the normal timeframe, especially if you were laid off for straightforward reasons.