From refugees to asylum seekers

A lot happened today.

We're making decisions about staying here. The simple fact is, as long as we're here, we're safe. Anywhere else leads to us being hunted down by proxies or worse. We need to live here, or we'll die.

For that, we need permanent residence. Our Visas have a good few months on them, but we're all prepared to over-stay if need be. And need will almost certainly be. Permanent Residence takes an incredibly long time to go through by normal channels. Fortunately, we're hoping it'll be quicker for us. You see, the USA accepts 80,000 people a year in the Employment-Based categories 1 and 2. Both place high priority on people who are high up in the business world or have advanced degrees. Shannon has a Master's Degree in mathematics - something we didn't know - and Roland?

Well, we knew he had a military background, possibly even special forces, and that whatever he did, it paid very well. What we didn't know was exactly what. He can fight, he can survive on the run, and despite being more than twice my age, is a hundred times fitter than me. It turns out that he was one of the senior executives in a fairly major private military company. His job was "a desk job, but well paid. I was pushed into it when word was going around that I could be eligible to get moved up into the corporation that owns the company." And while he's on extended grief leave following the death of his wife and son, he's still very much employed there, in a very high-ranking position. And this PMC is currently in a million-dollar contract with the US Government to aid the reconstruction in Iraq.

Will they let five normal people take refuge in their great country? Maybe, maybe not. 

Will they let a high-ranking executive in a corporation working for the US Government and his partner and adopted children stay, bringing all their British-earned money with them? Here's hoping.

So Roland's calling in all his favours, he's having people talk to people (Immigration is amalgamated into Homeland Security, and Homeland Security has a pretty high opinion of this PMC), and - hopefully - this can be taken care of pretty soon.

Then we can live here, safe and secure from a danger that's been plaguing us for longer than we can remember.