Just in case I feel I need to jump across the border.

Sounds like a joke?

I expect it to be delayed by a government shutdown, or just a reduction in people in that department.

Meh, I have no immediate plans to go anywhere. It just annoys me I can't hop in the car and drive to Canada for a few weeks or months.

Staffing or otherwise from everything I’ve read and researched.

My wife and I submitted ours in Christmas Eve. Yeah we went to the Post Office that day 🙄
My wife got hers in 25 days.
Me 38 (hiccup with my Ohio birth certificate)

My daughter submitted August 19th.

I hope yours gets through soon.

They have a trans daughter and an autistic daughter. They live in a trans-friendly state, but weren't born yesterday.

It took less time than expected so I'm glad I did it that early. We are all now living in 1940s French Morocco. Speaking of which, I also have letters of transit signed by Gen. Weygand (not DeGaulle, which is a mis-hearing of the dialogue in Casablanca) . They're movie prop facsimiles but might carry some clout with whatever idiots ICE is hiring these days.

Oddly I was looking this up this morning

These are objects, people, or information that drive the plot and motivate characters but whose specific details or contents are often irrelevant to the audience, as the focus is on the journey and conflict the MacGuffin creates.

Ark of the Civenant in Raiders
Briefcase in Pulp Fiction
Rosebud
Maltese Falcon
R2-D2 with the Deathstar schematics
The Letters of Transit in Casablanca: The letters are a powerful tool that characters will go to great lengths to possess, but their true power lies in the conflict they create among the characters rather than the letters themselves.

He talked about it in the famous Truffaut interviews. A valuable principle to understand in storytelling, along with "always describe the weather."

Haven't been back to the US since 2018, and don't envision any trips there again. Ever.