The reigning world champion billiards player is stuck in visa limbo in Warrnambool waiting to be reunited with her new husband in the UK.
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Anna Lynch married Rob Hall in April this year at Copenhagen's town hall, and celebrated with friends and family at weddings in the UK and at Proudfoots in Warrnambool in July.
Their Australian wedding coincided with the Australian championships - which Anna won for the second year in a row.
And while Rob has returned to the UK, Anna has had to stay behind while waiting for her spousal visa. But she is facing longer-than-usual delays.
"That's just a process that's rather long winded, so will take a lot longer than we expected due to circumstances out of anyone's control," she said.
Anna said backlogs caused by the pandemic and increased demand from the Afghanistan and Ukrainian wars had impacted processing times.
Initially they were told the visa would take a month if they used the fast-track system - something they were planning to do.
"But then they said because of the Ukranian war, that's been suspended. They can't do any fast-tracking," Anna said.
The three-month maximum wait time had blown out to six months, she said. "It's been a couple of months now. It's in the hands of a case worker in the UK as we speak. I'd say it won't be too much longer."
Despite being stuck in Warrnambool, it has given Anna a chance to spend more time with her Warrnambool-based parents before she heads back to the UK.
"It feels like COVID again when I was stuck here and I had no opportunity to leave so it does feel a bit like that. I'm trying to look at it positively," she said.
"There are a few tournaments here and I'll try and focus on preparing for those." Although, she is missing out on a number of tournaments overseas while she is stuck here.
Anna currently holds the women's title not just for the Australian championships, but the Victorian, Irish and the worlds. In all she has claimed 15 Victorian championships.
In 2019, she won the world championships, and because of COVID-19 they are yet to hold another event.
It was a night out with friends years ago that sparked an interest in billiards.
"We were playing some pool and I really enjoyed it and I thought might continue doing it and it became a bit of an addiction," Anna said.
"Piano is my number one thing, this is my hobby that I guess has taken over in some respect."
The jazz piano player and teacher met her husband at a billiards tournament.
Her husband is number two in the world, and while Anna is number one in the women's competition, she ranks about 40th in the men's competition which she has qualified for.
In early 2021, she got a travel exemption to go to the UK to see Rob and they tied the knot earlier this year.
She is looking forward to being reunited with Rob at their UK home which features a "a big snooker room".
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