This year the SIA renewal process has taken longer. Last year my renewal was 2 weeks with SIA in hand. This year, everything was submitted within the timeline. As of this writing I have not received my SIA Letter. However, all was not lost. The FAA is allowed to grant a verbal authorization for renewals to your AME as was my case. I went for my Class 1 in December, the AME called OKC and the verbal was given over the phone. AMAS (if you use them, you know) advised me during their follow-up that all my documents have been reviewed/approved----the FAA is currently drafting up my letter.
Fortunately we no longer have to carry our SIA.
I submitted all my stuff on 11/1 as directed in the previous SIA.