It always depends on the type of life insurance policy and the life insurance company you are purchasing it from. There are additional factors as well that can speed up or slow down a life insurance application. Your application can be filled out and approved in less than 24 hours or it could take several weeks or months. For example, if you apply today for a traditional life insurance policy with a medical exam -- it's possible that your policy would be issued in 1 - 2 weeks. In this best case scenario: You schedule your medical exam almost immediately It usually takes around 3-5 days to get approved Usually an additional 5 more days to get the policy issued If you are really in a pinch and time is the deciding factor - a No Exam policy will be a safer bet.