NorthByNorthwest

SSSS would typically happen at the departure airport though, and it's a TSA thing - at least in the US. It sounded like OP got the treatment by CBP on arrival in US, in which case it is not related to SSSS unless you pass through security again for a connection.

Maybe there was a slot that opened up or something - I had about 6 weeks from notice date to interview. Two weeks is pretty short notice if you're traveling for work or anything like that...

Zero issue, anyone in Sweden is used to substituting åäö with a a o or aa ae oe, even though åäö are separate letters of the alphabet. In essentially all cases mailing addresses have enough redundant information that this is never a problem. Swedish passports use Å=AA Ä=AE Ö=OE in the OCR-section since the standard for those lines uses a limited character set.

This might differ by country, but assume originals. In Japan I received it in a sealed envelope that I was not allowed to open, so copies were not feasible anyway. From Sweden it was just a printout from the registry with an official stamp and signature.

No, your spouse is still well within normal processing times, this is nothing out of the ordinary. There are many reasons why applications take different amounts of time - his background check might take longer, his case might be assigned to an officer with a different workload, etc, etc.

The whole purpose of the AP card is to let you travel while waiting for formal AOS. I entered over 20 times on AP and had only one single experience of a CPB officer giving me a hard time. You will end up in secondary inspection essentially every time, but as long as the trips are short and you have good reason to travel, e.g. for work or family emergencies I have not heard of anyone having issues. Since you WILL end up in secondary, do not book any travel with short connections after entering the US, there are plenty of examples of couples missing connecting domestic flights due to the person on AP ending up waiting in line several hours in secondary. If you're away for weeks or months you'll certainly face additional scrutiny, but you don't want to be away that long anyway (barring emergencies) since you might miss your AOS interview, that would cause you to be denied entry. Similarly if you receive an RFE that you don't respond to in a timely manner since you're out of the country you could also be denied. I would say 1-2 weeks is perfectly safe, any more I would not risk it.

She'll need to present her passport to even be allowed on the plane to any destination, and in order to board the final flight back into the US she will need both passport and green card. The different names will definitely complicate things no matter how you slice it, but if you are entering multiple countries, having passport and flight booking match will be the least hassle.

There is nothing for you to do until notified by the embassy. Processing times at the embassy will range from 1-3 months in most cases, that's when you'll file the DS-160.

This. OP can reduce the risk of being suspected of abandoning resident status by applying for an I-131 reentry permit, even if the stay is shorter than 6 months: Note: Obtaining a re-entry permit from USCIS before you leave, or a returning resident visa (SB-1) from a U.S. consulate while abroad, may help show that you planned for this to be a temporary absence. It's not a 100% safeguard, but better than nothing, especially if combined with evidence that OP has maintained strong ties to the US. The caveats for naturalization still apply, and she could still be found to have broken continuous residence which would reset the N-400 timer.

You are definitely pushing it a bit with multiple long absences, even if they are below the 6 month mark that would break continuous residence it can still raise questions: "An officer may also review whether an applicant with multiple absences of less than 6 months each will be able to satisfy the continuous residence requirement. In some of these cases, an applicant may not be able to establish that his or her principal actual dwelling place is in the United States or establish residence within the United States for the statutorily required period of time." Unless you are in a rush to become a citizen I would not do the N-400 the second you are eligible, in fact I'd even consider waiting and applying under the 5-year rule instead - it will require less paperwork and by then you've hopefully racked up a better balance of days in the US.

You will be subjected to extra scrutiny entering the US on AP, likely ending up in secondary screening every time but it is certainly realistic to travel on AP, after all that's what it's for. I was in and out well over 20 times while on AP, and other than one single experience with a foul-tempered officer giving me a hard time about going back and forth it worked just fine. You are of course correct that you could theoretically be denied entry on AP, but that's not going to happen for a short trip. I would not go on a months-long trip while on AP though...

Sure there's an advantage to get the ball rolling earlier. I filed exactly 2 months before my 5-year anniversary which was Dec 17, and got the interview notice on January 3 - just two weeks after the anniversary date. There's no way I would've got an interview scheduled that fast if I had waited.

That should be more than enough time then, must be something unrelated. Every time I've updated my SS record (initial K-1 entry, EAD received, GC received, naturalization completed) there was never any issue finding the record despite some differences in hyphenation of my name between different documents. Fortunately Washington state has no requirements on immigration status for DL and I could get that and bank accounts sorted within weeks after arriving as soon as I had a SSN with the NOT VALID FOR EMPLOYMENT limitation.

How long after receiving the GC was this? For naturalization the advice is to wait at least 10 days after oath ceremony before going to SSA office to update the record, not sure if GC info takes some time to propagate through the systems...

BTW, these are the phone numbers to call for updating info on the Canadian side unless a Canadian officer already took care of it for you at the enrollment center: https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/services/travel-voyage/prog/nexus/contacts-eng.html

Once the TTP profile page shows your Canadian citizenship (it will probably show both Indian and Canadian in your case) you should be able to request the replacement card - the replacement process page will confirm which citizenship the new card will have before you proceed.

I did a similar thing just the other week, changed from US LPR to US citizen - had to show my naturalization certificate and passport at enrollment center on US side, also had to call a number on the Canada side, then a CBSA officer called back and gave me an email address to email scans of the same documents to update citizenship in both systems. With that done I went to the TTP site and requested a replacement card with "Citizenship update" as the reason for replacement, costs $25 for the replacement. Waiting for the new card at the moment, should arrive any day.

Also, at least for US-issued NEXUS cards you login in here to update profile info: https://ttp.cbp.dhs.gov - however only some of the info can be updated online, other things need to be done at the enrollment center, and in some cases additional info needs to be emailed to the Canadian side. This might work differently for Canada-issued cards though...

You don't need an appointment to update info at an enrollment center, you can just drop in. Also, as others have said you can ignore Global Entry since NEXUS already includes all benefits and more, and you would not be eligible for plain Global Entry anyway on H1B status.

NEXUS card can be used in SENTRI lanes (as long as everyone traveling has NEXUS of course), but only if the vehicle has been preregistered under the account.

My recent one took 2.5 months from filing to interview scheduled, and the actual interview was 6 weeks after the notice, also filed under 5-year rule.

No, N-400 does not by itself generate any letters related to LPR status. N-400 and I-751 continue to be treated as two completely separate cases until one of them gets to the top of the pile, at that point the remaining case may well get adjudicated together or soon thereafter. Evidence suggests that recent N-400s are prioritized at the moment with plenty of cases getting adjudicated in around 4 months. If you have urgent travel and have an expired extension letter you will need to pursue that based on the I-751, a pending N-400 will not help.

As others have said, you can start the application and keep working on it pretty much indefinitely as long as you update it at least every 30 days. The system will tell you what supporting evidence to upload, so just follow that guideline, nothing more, nothing less.

Had my interview last week and was approved in 15 minutes, turns out they never even asked about the conditional GC or EAD card, so those will be mementos. All I showed was home country passport, GC and driver's license, no other paperwork at all (5-year rule). I did have a few more international trips since filing, but the officer already saw those in the system and added to the application without me having to do anything. That was the lengthiest part of my application, despite COVID I had 70 trips over 24 hours in the past 5 years, but no issues there.

Thus endeth the process - had my N-400 interview in Seattle yesterday. I was called in about 40 minutes past the scheduled time, finished up in about 15 minutes. Heading out I just missed one oath ceremony and had to wait about an hour for the next which was the last of the day. I had already scheduled an urgent travel appointment at the Passport Agency for today on the assumption that I'd pass, had to wait well over two hours past that appointed time, but I should have my passport in a day or two, I can't be in travel limbo for 2+ months. Surreal how quick this last step was compared to all the other steps...