What is ZAH-ZAHA? A research project, in Arabic and English, on the words that move borders. Words like refugee, border and security can stop telling the whole story: a border is drawn on a map, but it can stop you at an airport, in a database, or long before you reach it. ZAH-ZAHA asks a simple question: what do we see differently if we move these familiar words slightly and look at them again?

ZAH-ZAHA is an independent project by Wael M. Nasser, a Canadian-Yemeni researcher on migration and borders.

Open now

  1. ز Tracker
    Open     (released)
  2. حـ Stress Test
    Open     (released)
  3. ـز Something new
    17 Nov     (released)
  4. حـ Sections
    10 Dec     (released)
  5. ـة Everything
    18 Dec     (released)

Zahzaha (زحزحة) is Arabic for moving something slightly from its place. The word fills in letter by letter, one for each part that opens, until 18 December.

While you wait

This site opens in full on 18 December. Some people wait years for a decision on their immigration file. Press and hold to feel the difference.

The full siteuntil 18 December0%
Family abroad of a protected personabout 41 months0%IRCC processing times
One protected person’s permanent residence fileover six years in process0%Federal Court, 2025 FC 1957
Humanitarian and compassionatemore than 10 years0%IRCC processing times

IRCC figures are its estimates for an application sent today, outside Quebec, checked 9 November 2026. They are not a maximum.

Every second you hold is one day of waiting.

Or skip ahead in time

A file has fields for dates, fingerprints and addresses. It has no field for what waiting does to a person.

ZAH-ZAHA is opening one part at a time. A part that is not open yet shows a short note on what is coming. To hear when the next part opens, subscribe to the newsletter, follow ZAH-ZAHA on Bluesky or use RSS. The same links are at the bottom of this page.