Scandi

Every time you travel now, you're at the risk of CBP issuing Notice to Appear (NTA) in attempt to strip you off your LPR status in the US.
 
The wisest thing is not to increase chances of this happening. If you're lucky to get into the US with your valid 10 year GC, just stay there until you naturalize.
 
I know you may have commitments back in the UK etc. Can your wife handle any business there for you?
 
Renouncing LPR, then applying from scratch can be super slow and confusing to US embassy / USCIS, which complicates your immigration history and increases chances of something going off the track.

When I had to file for ROC we lived kind of like you guys do, never had a rental agreement written up as the house was owned by my USC husband's mother and we paid a crazy low "rent". But we made up a rental agreement anyway, just printed one from the net, filled it out and just asked her to sign it. I obviously have no idea if it made a difference or not, but that was all we could do. 

I totally get that you don't want to bother your landlord, it's not the same as a close family member like in our case. He might even find it weird and become suspicious, who knows. 

Why would you attempt to travel with an expired stamp? That's your only proof of residency - since you don't have a physical greencard the extension letter means nothing. To use the stamp, it needs to be valid, not expired. Always get a new stamp every time the other expires, I believe you can get a new stamp within 30 days before the current stamp's expiry date. 

He was right. I-797 does not extend I-551 stamps, only physical GC. You're lucky you boarded planes before. You need to get fresh stamp when it expires.

2. Varies greatly between field offices, and another thing that can change how quickly she gets to take the oath is if she will have a name change or not. For me in Los Angeles, including a name change, it was only 3-4 business days between interview and oath in the middle of the pandemic. 
 
3. No advice really, the N-400 was by FAR the easiest step out of all the immigration related processes I have ever been through. If there's something I wish I would've known beforehand, it would be just that - that it was a lot easier than I had anticipated, less worries.

Correct, that's why it's better to take FREE advice from VJ than pay an attorney who doesn't know how how immigration works. The email from the embassy is in most cases generic, ie everyone gets the same letter despite having completely different circumstances. Such an email may therefore not go into detail in each person's case but only list the standard documents needed for everyone - for instance many people don't have any divorces in the past and therefore no divorce decrees, many don't have any criminal backgrounds and therefore won't have to show court documents related to their crimes etc. So most emails won't mention it because it's not something generic that everyone has to bring. 

Divorce decree and a signed affidavit of support is needed at the interview stage, no matter if you sent it previously. I'm surprised your fiance didn't bring that. We sent a certified copy of the divorce decree with our initial petition and also had to bring a new certified copy to the interview at the embassy, it's the normal and not just something the CO asked for "out of spite" or anything like that. Certified/original is not needed for the actual petition (hence why they were fine with just your PDF), but is needed for the interview. 

It just means that everything the US petitioner sent to USCIS (original petition and any potential RFEs), the foreign beneficiary should have copies of as well. So the beneficiary knows exactly what documents were sent and what information was put on the forms etc, this helps the beneficiary being prepared for the interview as he/she knows exactly what documents and info the Consular Officer has in front him/her. 

Sometimes it can be difficult to remember exact dates for instance, so it's good for the beneficiary to know what dates the petition wrote down on the forms and photos and other documents, so you are both on the same side. The petitioner could also add photos that the CO might ask about at the interview, then it's good that the beneficiary is well aware of the photo and can explain it if needed.
In my case for instance, my then fiance had sent a ridiculous Christmas photo of our stockings on the fireplace, they had both me and my then fiance's names, but also the DOGS names! So the IO was suspicious and asking questions thinking it was our children, and on the forms we had obviously not mentioned any children since we didn't have any. So good to be prepared to answer such questions! 😁

Now I'm wondering too, because OP has another thread about "renewing 10 year greencard", but he talks about how they cant file until 90 days before the greencard expires - which sounds more like ROC (i-751). For a regular renewal (i-90) you can file 6 months before the expiration date. 

2. Varies greatly between field offices, and another thing that can change how quickly she gets to take the oath is if she will have a name change or not. For me in Los Angeles, including a name change, it was only 3-4 business days between interview and oath in the middle of the pandemic. 
 
3. No advice really, the N-400 was by FAR the easiest step out of all the immigration related processes I have ever been through. If there's something I wish I would've known beforehand, it would be just that - that it was a lot easier than I had anticipated, less worries.

2. Varies greatly between field offices, and another thing that can change how quickly she gets to take the oath is if she will have a name change or not. For me in Los Angeles, including a name change, it was only 3-4 business days between interview and oath in the middle of the pandemic. 
 
3. No advice really, the N-400 was by FAR the easiest step out of all the immigration related processes I have ever been through. If there's something I wish I would've known beforehand, it would be just that - that it was a lot easier than I had anticipated, less worries.

Personally I kept every form I have ever sent to USCIS, just in case I want to petition for a family member in the future and might need the info on those forms (it can be hard to remember every date and info), those are only 2-8 pages each, so not a big deal to keep at all. 

I also kept every single document I have received from USCIS (NOA1, NOA2, Interview notices etc), NVC and the embassy. Same as above, not many pages at all. 

Everything else I got rid of, like 95% of my immigration pile was "evidence of a bonafide marriage", so all that went into the shredder. Hardly anything left in my immigration binder now. 

Had my N400 interview yesterday. It went great. Approval on the spot. Today I got the notice that my Oath ceremony will be on Sept 19th. It's hard to believe I am almost done!

If you read the oath letter you received it says:

 
Please bring the following with you:
-This notice with the reverse side completed. Please refer to instructions below.
-All Permanent Resident Cards ("green card") that you may have, valid or expired.
-All Reentry Permits or Refugee Travel Documents that you may have, valid or expired
-Any other documents USCIS issued to you that you may have, such as employment authorization cards, valid or expired.

Yes they want you to hand in EAD, AP, all greencards etc. You can obviously not hand in something you don't have. I didn't have my conditional greencard and was specifically asked why I didn't hand it in and had to explain myself at the oath. 

You should always expect to get a biometrics appointment with EVERY petition you send in. It's only in recent time that it has become a little more common that they reuse biometrics, but the normal is still to have your biometrics taken for every single petition. Sometimes even more than once per petition. 

You should always expect to get a biometrics appointment with EVERY petition you send in. It's only in recent time that it has become a little more common that they reuse biometrics, but the normal is still to have your biometrics taken for every single petition. Sometimes even more than once per petition. 

If you read the oath letter you received it says:

 
Please bring the following with you:
-This notice with the reverse side completed. Please refer to instructions below.
-All Permanent Resident Cards ("green card") that you may have, valid or expired.
-All Reentry Permits or Refugee Travel Documents that you may have, valid or expired
-Any other documents USCIS issued to you that you may have, such as employment authorization cards, valid or expired.

Yes they want you to hand in EAD, AP, all greencards etc. You can obviously not hand in something you don't have. I didn't have my conditional greencard and was specifically asked why I didn't hand it in and had to explain myself at the oath. 

If you read the oath letter you received it says:

 
Please bring the following with you:
-This notice with the reverse side completed. Please refer to instructions below.
-All Permanent Resident Cards ("green card") that you may have, valid or expired.
-All Reentry Permits or Refugee Travel Documents that you may have, valid or expired
-Any other documents USCIS issued to you that you may have, such as employment authorization cards, valid or expired.

Yes they want you to hand in EAD, AP, all greencards etc. You can obviously not hand in something you don't have. I didn't have my conditional greencard and was specifically asked why I didn't hand it in and had to explain myself at the oath. 

If you read the oath letter you received it says:

 
Please bring the following with you:
-This notice with the reverse side completed. Please refer to instructions below.
-All Permanent Resident Cards ("green card") that you may have, valid or expired.
-All Reentry Permits or Refugee Travel Documents that you may have, valid or expired
-Any other documents USCIS issued to you that you may have, such as employment authorization cards, valid or expired.

Yes they want you to hand in EAD, AP, all greencards etc. You can obviously not hand in something you don't have. I didn't have my conditional greencard and was specifically asked why I didn't hand it in and had to explain myself at the oath. 

If you read the oath letter you received it says:

 
Please bring the following with you:
-This notice with the reverse side completed. Please refer to instructions below.
-All Permanent Resident Cards ("green card") that you may have, valid or expired.
-All Reentry Permits or Refugee Travel Documents that you may have, valid or expired
-Any other documents USCIS issued to you that you may have, such as employment authorization cards, valid or expired.

Yes they want you to hand in EAD, AP, all greencards etc. You can obviously not hand in something you don't have. I didn't have my conditional greencard and was specifically asked why I didn't hand it in and had to explain myself at the oath. 

Yup, during covid a lot of SSA office didn't allow in-person appointments, so you had to send your documents via mail. And they returned them via mail to you. I didn't go for that so I waited until my local office allowed in-person appointments again. It was about 8 months after the oath. 

The covid restrictions haven't been a thing for a long time now, like Mike said, you go there with your documents and you leave with them too. 

It differs a lot, you will see everyone has had very different experiences. I was the beneficiary and traveled to the US on my K-1 visa together with my then USC fiance (now husband) and it was super smooth. No secondary, we were "interviewed" at the regular desk everyone goes to (we got to go together, didn't have to go one by one up to that desk). Again, it was a K-1 so maybe it's a different process than with a CR-1/IR-1. 

The officer opened my sealed envelope right in front of me and I believe he read a little bit of it because he proceeded to ask me two questions - "What kind of work did you do in Sweden?" and "How many times have you been to the US?", two of the same questions that were asked on the DS-160 and on the embassy during the K-1 interview. Maybe he just wanted to verify that my answers were the same as what he saw in those papers? 

He asked my USC fiance what he did for a living and what date we had set for the wedding (we didn't have a date at that point). And that was it, just two questions each and then a "Welcome home". Very easy, and the same amount of questions that I used to get when I arrived on an ESTA. 

It just means that everything the US petitioner sent to USCIS (original petition and any potential RFEs), the foreign beneficiary should have copies of as well. So the beneficiary knows exactly what documents were sent and what information was put on the forms etc, this helps the beneficiary being prepared for the interview as he/she knows exactly what documents and info the Consular Officer has in front him/her. 

Sometimes it can be difficult to remember exact dates for instance, so it's good for the beneficiary to know what dates the petition wrote down on the forms and photos and other documents, so you are both on the same side. The petitioner could also add photos that the CO might ask about at the interview, then it's good that the beneficiary is well aware of the photo and can explain it if needed.
In my case for instance, my then fiance had sent a ridiculous Christmas photo of our stockings on the fireplace, they had both me and my then fiance's names, but also the DOGS names! So the IO was suspicious and asking questions thinking it was our children, and on the forms we had obviously not mentioned any children since we didn't have any. So good to be prepared to answer such questions! 😁

In most DMVs in Los Angeles county you can't even get an appointment for a driving test in 10 days. When I got my license there was a 2 month wait in almost all DMVs, had to drive down to O.C. for an earlier appointment. That said, I drove on my Swedish license for almost a year, I was only stopped twice for a "routine check" and my license wasn't an issue any of those times. As with everything, I guess it depends on who you end up talking to. 

In most DMVs in Los Angeles county you can't even get an appointment for a driving test in 10 days. When I got my license there was a 2 month wait in almost all DMVs, had to drive down to O.C. for an earlier appointment. That said, I drove on my Swedish license for almost a year, I was only stopped twice for a "routine check" and my license wasn't an issue any of those times. As with everything, I guess it depends on who you end up talking to.