If you have an official who is refusing to perform their job, or taking inordinately long about doing it, then it's legal to pay them to do it. As long as you're not influencing their actual decision making process, i.e. causing them to overlook actual legal deficiencies in your paperwork, then it is legal.

It's called the facilitation payment exception to FCPA. Obviously one intending to make such a payment would be well advised to discuss with their lawyer to make sure it is indeed within the scope of the exception.