Preamble: I submitted my N400 on March 1, 2023, received an interview letter for N400 in early April, interviewed and prepared for a combination interview on May 10. The immigration officer asked if I was leaving in the next few weeks, I explained I will be leaving in 1.5 months to attend my brother's wedding. She indicated that that should be enough time to expedite a US passport, so sent me for naturalization on the same day. I didn't realize that I could not fall back on my Canadian passport to return to the US until this was mentioned during the naturalization ceremony, so I went back to the check-in and they explained they had already destroyed my green card. After the interview, I researched for passport offices, but there was no available appointments at USPS for a few weeks. Fortunately, I found a local university that allows for walk-in appointments and I submitted an expedited passport application with expedited shipping.
5/10: Submitted application
5/15: Called NPIC for assistance, indicated they cannot book anything that far in advance (appointments within 5 days of flight only); learned online that these appointments are difficulty to come by.
5:16: In-Progress at Locator 35.
5/19: Wrote to my senators regarding the situation and asked for assistance. Received response from one of the caseworkers at one of the senator's office indicating an inquiry has been submitted on behalf. This was within the hour.
5/22: Approved
5/23: Shipped
5/25: Arrived with naturalization certificate in the same UPS mail.
Looking back, I would have deferred naturalization since I wasn't in a rush. Everything about this process has been dead slow, but this last leg went by so fast that I didn't have time to do all my research. Fortunately, it worked out and now our journey is over. 😀