Adjustment of Status - I-485

This is our timeline:

07/31/2015 - USPS delivered the One-Step Petition to the Chicago lockbox by certified priority mail.
08/03/2015 - We received your Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or to Adjust Status.
08/03/2015 - We received your Form I-131, Application for USCIS Travel Document.
08/03/2015 - We received your Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization
08/06/2015 - We accepted the fingerprint fee for your Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or to Adjust Status.
08/12/2015 - Biometrics notice sent to us.
09/01/2015 - Biometrics done at the Atlanta Application Support Center.
10/02/2015 - We ordered your new (EAD) card.
10/05/2015 - We approved your Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization.
10/06/2015 - We approved your Form I-131, Application for USCIS Travel Document.
10/07/2015 - We mailed your new (EAD) card to the address you gave us.
10/10/2015 - The Post Office delivered your new card to the address that you gave us.
10/16/2015 - We scheduled you for your interview and mailed you an interview notice. Interview date -- 11/19/2015.
11/19/2015 - Interview done at the Atlanta Field Office at 10:30 a.m.
11/19/2015 - We approved your Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or to Adjust Status.
11/19/2015 - We ordered your new (Permanent Resident) card.

We are now waiting for the Green Card to be mailed to us. Based on our experience thus far, we expect it to arrive within a week. The whole process (from the date the petition was received in Chicago on 07/31/2015 to the date of approval on 11/19/2015), took 111 days -- that's equal to 3 months and 19 days!

For starters, I arrived in the U.S. in 1995 on a B1/B2 visa and over-stayed my visa by 20 years! I have never left the US since my arrival. But as you may already have noticed, ours was for the most part a relatively quick and flawless process. This is mainly because our attorney filed a One-Step Petition, and included ALL the evidence in the initial filing -- some originals and copies of ALL the required documentation including all the marital 'bonafides' -- pictures, receipts, marriage certificates, birth certificates, bank statements, affidavits...EVERYTHING! We therefore never received any Request for Evidence (RFE), which as you may know by now, tends to significantly delay the whole process. Ours was a very thick folder. Despite that, we still brought to the interview even more evidence which we had gathered since the initial filing -- in 2 even thicker folders! We were definitely over-prepared. But it's better to be over-prepared than to be under-prepared. Our attorney didn't feel the need to accompany us to the interview because we clearly had everything in order and we were ready. The I/O remarked at the beginning of the interview that we seemed to have everything and then some! After the obligatory pleasantries and the swearing-in, all he needed to see were a few original documents. That's all. The interview lasted about 25 minutes -- mostly because we spent a lot of time chit-chatting with the I/O! He gave us the approval letter at the end of the interview.

I must also add that the Atlanta Field Office seems to be a pretty well-oiled machine.

Much as we were very prepared and had all our ducks in a row, so to speak, this forum was a great resource for us and we regularly turned to it to read some tips and advice. I am therefore writing this as a way to say 'thank you' and to give back. As a word of encouragement to all those that may be overwhelmed and frustrated by the process, do not despair. Prepare, prepare and prepare. Dot all the 'i' s and cross all the 't' s. Better to be safe than sorry. Good luck to all those that are still in the trenches.