A Google News Help thread has Erik from Google saying it can take several weeks for Google to review your publication for inclusion into Google News.
Erik S. said "depending on the volume of inclusion requests we receive, it can take up to several weeks to hear back about your site. We do promise to look at it though."
A year ago, Google simply told us to expect significant delays for inclusion into Google News.
So it is nice to have at least a "several weeks" number as opposed to "significant delays."
Forum discussion at Google News Help.
