Currently, the I.N.S. service centers are taking a year and a half to two years to process adjustment of status cases. Adjustment of status may only be filed after a priority date is current. Consular processing may begin at any time, with the interview coming shortly after the applicant's priority date become current. Not at all. If anything, it is much easier.
Consular officers are highly trained professionals who know what they are doing.
Overseas consular interviews only take about one-fifth as long as I.N.S. adjustment interviews. For one thing, consular officers do not follow a policy of automatically readjudicating all preference petitions, as most I.N.S. officers seem to want to do. For another, they are prepared for the interview. This does not happen overseas. The process begins when the petitioner designates overseas consular processing on the preference petition.