I'm in a similar position.

Started on site, early on asked for remote which wasn't possible at the time, circumstances changed and I asked again. It felt like forever it was in the hands of higher-ups but after two years fro my my start date with the company I went on a 3 month remote trial.

Trial went well and I'm now permanently remote.

Ask, provide reasons why you should be permitted to work remotely & if denied ask why so that you can change and try again.

As a tech manager, this has worked really well for me. I have had 5 remote employees. 3 were local first, and all 3 were great. 2 were remote hires and both failed.

I worked at a place where a junior developer announced shortly after starting that he was moving 3 time zones away. The company decided to continue to employ him. It was probably doomed no matter what they did, but they also insisted he work on a VM at the company headquarters, and didn't have him visit the team in person on a regular schedule.

Edit: In this situation, he was hardly local first, given the short time between his hire and his moving far away. All of which is to say I agree with the poster I replied to.

I sort of did the same. Worked there for years, but office policy wouldn't allow full time remote, so I quit. Now they hire me back. I'm think I'm the only one in the entire company.