1. Correct. The stock offered cannot be sold into the market until the S-1 is deemed effective.
2. Yes, the Notice of Effectiveness will be posted on Edgar pretty much immediately.
3. The length of time it takes for an S-1 to be deemed effective varies. If it's an initial registration statement, probably six to eight months is average. When the company files the S-1, the SEC will review it, and send comments to the company within about two to three weeks. The company must then respond to the comments and file an amended S-1. Then the SEC will comment again, and so on. Most S-1s go through four, five, or more amendments before the examiners are satisfied and deem it effective.
While the process continues, the successive amendments--but not the correspondence between the SEC and the company--will appear on Edgar. A month or so after the registration statement becomes effective, that correspondence will be added to Edgar.
If the S-1 is a secondary offering, it may move faster.
Once upon a time, initial S-1s, especially if they were simple and involved very small offerings, whizzed through the system quickly. I saw one that was deemed effective after only a week, though that was an exception. But the SEC seems to be cracking down now.
Remember: the examiners don't judge the filing on the merits of the company or the offering. They're only interested in whether the issuer had made all of the necessary disclosures, and has made them in the proper form.
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