It's 12 months now since Ann and I submitted our documents to Australian Immigration, applying for a Permanent Residency Visa. The process is slow and often oblique - information other than that which is absolutely necessary is not forthcoming. It is very difficult to gauge how well one is doing, whether or not something is right or wrong, missing or incomplete. The silence is stressful, because lives are at stake, plans for the future hard to realize. In truth, it feels like treading water for a long time, the markings on the pool indeterminate, survival not guaranteed.

Now this is understandable. I'm sure that the good folks at Immigration are snowed under with work from all directions.They also need to be mindful of fraud. But that fact does not make the waiting any easier. Ann and I have many plans for the future. Some can proceed in the hope of a PR Visa, others would be plain foolish without it. How can you reasonably buy a house together, or set up a business if one of the parties might be ejected from the country?

The only thing to do is wait in hope and trust in the fairness of the process. In an age of cynicism and false news, that isn't always easy. Fortunately I am neither a cynic nor a believer in alternate facts, so the wait might generate anxiety, but never pessimism nor despair. That is a promise.