Short answer. Thirty days from filing. Article 235 directs the Bureau to act on all applications for registration within thirty days of filing. The period runs from the date the application was filed, so the receiving copy showing that date is the document that matters most.
What the law says
The Bureau shall act on all applications for registration within thirty (30) days from filing.
Labor Code, Article 235 — Action On Application. Read the full provision →
A fixed period, counted from filing
The article is blunt about it: The Bureau shall act on all applications for registration within thirty (30) days from filing. Two features are worth noticing. The obligation is to act on all applications, without distinction between the straightforward and the contentious. And the clock starts at filing, not at some later point of the Bureau's choosing, such as when a file is assigned or when the last query is answered. That is why the stamped receiving copy of your application is worth more than any other paper in the folder.
Why a deadline is written into the statute at all
Registration is not a formality for a new union — it is what allows the organisation to function as one. A young union is at its most fragile in the weeks after filing, when membership is known to the employer and nothing has yet been conferred in return. An application that could sit indefinitely would give delay the same effect as denial, without anyone having to decide anything. The thirty-day rule exists to close that gap, and it should be treated as a right of the applicant rather than an internal housekeeping target.
Get the paperwork right so the period is not wasted
The same article states how the submissions must be executed: all requisite documents and papers are to be certified under oath by the secretary or the treasurer, as the case may be, and attested to by the president. A defect there is the commonest reason an application goes back and forth, and every round trip eats into the time the union does not have. Check the signatories, the oath and the attestation before filing rather than after, and file a complete set at one time.
If the thirty days pass in silence
Keep a dated record of the filing and of every communication either way, including who you spoke to and when. A written follow-up addressed to the office holding the application, referring to the date of filing and to the period the article prescribes, is more useful than repeated visits, because it creates a record. If the outcome when it comes is a denial, note the date you received the notice — the article that follows allows a denial to be appealed, and the period for doing so is short.