How soon can you apply for unemployment in NY after losing your job?

You can file immediately - there's no waiting period to submit your initial claim with NYS Department of Labor. In fact, you should apply as soon as possible because benefits are not retroactive to when you lost your job, only to when you filed. The sooner you file, the sooner your claim gets processed.

Definitely file online at labor.ny.gov - it's the fastest way. But understand that even though you can file right away, there IS a one-week waiting period before you can receive your first payment. So if you file today, you won't get paid for this first week of unemployment, but you'll start getting paid for the second week onward.

I made the mistake of waiting a few days before filing thinking I needed to 'cool off' period or something. Don't do that! File immediately. Every day you wait is money you're losing since they don't backdate benefits.

Just went through this process last month. Filed on a Tuesday, got my determination letter about 10 days later, and received my first payment the following week. The key is having all your employment information ready - dates of employment, reason for separation, etc. NYS Department of Labor needs accurate info to process your claim quickly.

ugh the whole system is so confusing why cant they just make it simple and pay people right away when they lose their job

If you're having trouble getting through to NYS Department of Labor by phone to ask questions about your application, I had success using Claimyr (claimyr.com). They have a service that helps you get connected to an actual agent without waiting on hold forever. There's a demo video at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Really helped when I had questions about my claim status.