I-485 application date current - what now?

[metalk]

Hello,

I am new to this forum and I'm posting this on behalf of my boyfriend who is awaiting approval for his I-485 petition. (We will probably get married soon. I am American but this application has nothing to do with me. It's employment based, and we want to get this before we get married).

We're coming up on 2 years waiting (his receipt is from the July 2007 batch). We checked the Website the other day and were very excited to see that this date has now become current.

So we're wondering what happens next. We are under the impression that the notification of approval will come in the mail next (and then a greencard will arrive about a week after that). The question is - when will this letter come? A few weeks? Months? We tried calling his lawyer but they really gave us no information and said there is no way to know what the time frame is. (They are very good at sending us bills, but not very good at keeping us in the loop about how the process works!)

Also, we were under the impression that this was a done deal. The lawyer says that all his interviews, background checks, etc have already been done, and this waiting for approval was just a formality. But now I'm reading this forum and seeing people being denied for seemingly no reason. Are people frequently denied? What reasons could there be? (He has no arrests, criminal history or any issues like that).

Thanks in advance for any help.