If I may ask, which visa category did you have and how did you get it?
I had good immigration lawyers (McCown & Evans) and the process really had only a few main steps.
1. My employer describes to the Department of Labor a position that they would like to fill and demonstrating that they are unable to fill the position with a permanent resident or citizen.
2. A process where my employer submits my resume and reference letters to the Department of Labor to show that I am an alien that could fill the position.
3. I submit an application for permanent residence and and application to adjust my immigration status (from E-3 to PERM). Because there isn't a queue in my category (for my nationality) these can be filed simultaneously.
The first two steps took about 6 months and the final step about a year.
That's quite lengthy (by the book): the LCA usually has a two-week turnaround. A nice perk is that it's also 'free' for the employer (there is no filing fee), although many have immigration lawyers on retainer to handle supporting paperwork and shepherd you through the process.
Excluding the interview process at the employer, LCA -> visa interview -> issued E3 for me was about ~3 weeks.
The six month process for the labor requirements for a green card was longer in processing but also longer due to non-processing time spent getting letters attesting to my skills from previous employers and my current employer running job adverts to try and find local candidates that met the skill requirement.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-3_visa
Source: I've had one.
Also, I don't know why you guys would be giving us thank you privileges for ww2. We were at a lot more risk from Japan and you put in far more work to stop them. If anything it'd be the other way around!
As for the thank you, it was probably compensation for whatever damage was caused to the MCG. ;)
Either way, us Australians are certainly lucky to have this visa.