Paperwork, busywork, lawyer work, trust
Compliance isn’t the point
I work in immigration. This is in essence, a paper-pushing industry.
This post is me trying to rationalize why I and many others spend so much time and energy on paperwork that doesn’t directly produce anything of value.
It’s a commonly-observed and annoying part of modern life that we have so much paperwork. But an inevitable part of having a social contract of any complexity is that some things have to be spelled out in contractual terms. This means you need lawyers, analysts, and inspectors ensuring that contracts are being followed, the i’s dotted and t’s crossed.
Paperwork, generally, produces compliance. Industrial safety compliance, HR compliance, compliance with financial, employment, and immigration laws. And compliance at a company level leads to trust at a systemic level.
Right now things are as good as they have ever been in large part because we can live without constant fear of being poisoned, exploited, or defrauded by the companies we trust with our money. I can in general, trust that a set of rules are being followed.
In my field specifically, a well-functioning US immigration and border system builds trust with the public that the 1 million people who enter the US each day do so with legitimate reason, and in an orderly fashion. Immigrants have to know that when they arrive in the US, they will be accorded some basic rights. And employers need to know that they can hire foreigners without fear of arbitrary deportation1.
Trust is an essential output of the immigration system. And in general, trust-producing industries are crucial to our society’s functioning.
But we should not tolerate compliance for compliance’s sake. Systemic trust, not compliance, is the end goal. And trust, like any good or service, can be produced efficiently or inefficiently. I for one, do not think we should be required to physically print out and mail in visa applications2.
Many complaints about US immigration are about the extent to which it fails to livie up to its trust-building function.
Yes we do this. For some visas at least.