It depends on the particular issue and your home state.  Here are some general observations.  The reality is there is no true answer to your question because humans are involved, and we react differently, even faced with the exact same circumstances.  What if you get the miserable regulator that wants to ruin someone’s life? 

  If you have a "yes" answer on your U-4 and have changed firms since getting the yes answer, it is likely that you will not go through a long process of being approved.  If the regulators approved you last time you changed firms, and you have no "yes' answers since then, why would they keep you out of the business now, when they approved you last time you changed firms?  If the "yes" answer is still pending verses settled, expect approval to take longer.  You are basically out of business until your home state and FINRA approve you to transact business.  Often if someone has just one "yes" answer you will see the rep temporarily approved, which means the state or FINRA can pull back the approval at any time.  They may ask for additional information before formally approving you.  If you have temporary approval, you can transact business.  If the incident occurred many years ago, you are likely to be approved quicker as you do not have any recent issues.  Most states follow the home state in terms of approving reps.  Some states are much tougher than others, so it does depend on where you live.   Timing for approval is a wild card.  I have seen approvals require a hearing and the rep gets shut out of business for over  a month and others take less than 48 hours.  Some states will call the new broker/dealer's licensing department, and tell them, we are giving your new rep permission to withdraw their application to our state (before we make this nasty for them and the broker/dealer).  Also consider the severity of the "yes" answer.  Things like stealing and fraud can be career enders.  If you have one customer complaint about investments that went down in value and you have been in business for 20 years, the complaint is probably not going to ruin you and the regulators will provide at least temporary approval rather quickly.