I just got the email. The one I’ve been checking for every morning at 3 AM, every lunch break, every time my phone buzzed for the past year. Our 186 visa has been granted.

Three hundred and fifty-nine days. That’s how long the journey took from lodging our visa application to seeing “Granted” on our timeline. Almost a full year of waiting, wondering, and trying not to read too much into every silence from the Department of Home Affairs. And now, just like that, it’s done.

What makes this moment even more special is that our whole family is on it. Soc was born right in the middle of the process, and there were a few nerve-wracking weeks where we scrambled to get his medical examinations done, submit the paperwork to add him to the application, and wait for DHA to process it all. DHA added him to the application on the morning of the 10th, we rushed to get his medical done that same afternoon, and the grant came through the very next morning. The timing still feels surreal.

I think about the version of me who lodged this application back in March 2025—anxious, doom-scrolling Reddit at midnight, refreshing VEVO like it owed me money. That anxiety is exactly why I built the 186 Visa Tracker. I wanted to turn the chaos into something structured, something that could give people a little clarity in the wait. Using my own app to track our journey and finally marking it as “Granted” today—that hit different.

Australia is about to become home. Not temporarily, not conditionally. Home. For me, for my wife, for Chip, for En, for Soc—for the whole family. We get to plan without asterisks, dream without expiry dates. There’s a weight that lifts when you no longer have to wonder whether you’ll be allowed to build your life in the place you’ve been working toward.

To everyone still in the queue—I see you. The wait is brutal, and I won’t pretend it isn’t. But your day is coming. Keep going.