I am a US citizen. I applied a green card for my wife on March 26, 2004 and my wife got her green on August 10, 2008. I also applied a green card for my mother on April 20, 2008. I was completely surprised when my mother got her green card yesterday which was dated August 19, 2008. My wife was a medical school student when I applied the green card for her. She had to wait for nearly 4.5 years to get her green card. My mother is a retired full professor of Pediatrics but waited only for 4 months. I don’t understand why USCIS would treat my wife and my mother so differently! If it means that USCIS has become much more efficient now, then that’s goods news for everyone.