When Delay Becomes an Answer
Article by Ayman Fouad Abdelgawad
A request has not been refused. It is still being considered. The wording suggests that nothing has happened yet.
Meanwhile, the person waiting may have postponed a decision, missed an opportunity, or continued living under an arrangement they are trying to change. In that sense, the absence of an answer has effects of its own.
Some delay is unavoidable. Evidence takes time to gather, and haste can produce unfairness. The question is whether the waiting has a reason, an intelligible timescale, and a way to address urgent consequences.
A process should not measure its activity only by the moment it issues a final letter. It should also notice the period during which its silence directs someone else's choices.
An unanswered request remains unfinished work for the institution. For the person affected, it may already be an everyday condition.