The Waterfall method has not been successful for 40 years
A decade into a project to digitize U.S. immigration forms, just one is online
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Re: A decade into a project to digitize U.S. immigration forms, just one is online
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
Care to elaborate? Family-based immigration (the overwhelming majority of cases) only requires 3 to 5 forms and a lawyer can't help much as you have to provide all the infos and documents yourself. And for employment-based immigration, most of the burden is on the employer.
I finished the EB-1 process this year. As thankful as I may be for how it worked out eventually (and knowing that most employment based petitions do not fall in this category), I still regularly show people the picture I snapped of the 6 pounds of documentation I had to prepare and send to support my case. Maybe they just did a good job convincing me of their worth, but I can't imagine doing this without lawyers.
Thanks! Just would like to precise this is the exceptional category for 'alien with exceptional abilities' [0] who need to prove their exceptional abilities; all other employment-based petitions are filed by employers.
[0] http://www.uscis.gov/working-united-states/permanent-workers...
Re: A decade into a project to digitize U.S. immigration forms, just one is online
#13I went through the green card process last year. From my experience, it is nearly impossible without a lawyer. I wonder how much of the delay can be attributed to lobbying from the immigration lawyers that profit from the complicated, paper based process.
Care to elaborate? Family-based immigration (the overwhelming majority of cases) only requires 3 to 5 forms and a lawyer can't help much as you have to provide all the infos and documents yourself. And for employment-based immigration, most of the burden is on the employer.
Mine was employment based / EB1.
It was not the number of forms, but the structure that made it complicated. The final package we submitted was over 150 pages total for me and my wife. This is in part because the same information is required multiple times, since the different steps get reviewed by different departments.
Re: A decade into a project to digitize U.S. immigration forms, just one is online
#14I've always found the biggest joke in these forms, among other federal forms, to be the OMB "paperwork reduction" statements. [1] Even airport landing customs cards have these.
Why these make no sense:
- They take up a good chunk of a page and consume both paper and the reader's time.
- These forms aren't exactly optional, so I am going to spend time filling them out anyway. They would be easier to fill out if they were electronic, and if I wasn't repeating the same entries for the Nth time. The long disclosure adds nothing to usability and is only taunting.
"Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: A federal agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, nor shall a person be subject to a penalty for failure to comply with a collection of information subject to the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act unless that collection of information displays a current valid OMB Control Number. The OMB Control Number for this information collection is Public reporting for this collection of information is estimated to be approximately minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, completing and reviewing the collection of information. All responses to this collection of information are mandated by . Comments concerning the accuracy of this burden and suggestions for reducing the burden should be directed to the at: ."
Re: A decade into a project to digitize U.S. immigration forms, just one is online
#15I went through the green card process last year. From my experience, it is nearly impossible without a lawyer. I wonder how much of the delay can be attributed to lobbying from the immigration lawyers that profit from the complicated, paper based process.
I remember taking my wife for her medical exam as part of her green card process. What a joke! The doctor--who he has to select as someone on a small approved list--was basically retired and using his position on that list as a way to make extra money. I don't think he did a thing to examine her. He just chatted and told us stories about when he was fighting in Korea and accidentally stepped in a kimchi pot. Very nic…
Had the same experience during my visit. Some older Russian doctor who chatted with me for 15 minutes, telling me that America was ok, that green card medical visit were pretty much all she was doing now, 3 half-day a week and that was plenty for her to make good money. She pocketed the $600 and gave me the sealed envelop.
I have no problem with not passing any cost to the American taxpayers (and even that could be debatable, yes I'm an immigrant but I've never been unemployed and I believe I create wealth so it's a full net win for the country), but the system is really hostile and dysfunctional.
Re: A decade into a project to digitize U.S. immigration forms, just one is online
#16I went through the green card process last year. From my experience, it is nearly impossible without a lawyer. I wonder how much of the delay can be attributed to lobbying from the immigration lawyers that profit from the complicated, paper based process.
I filed:
* A permanent residency application based on my marriage.
* An application to remove conditions on said permanent residency
* An expedited naturalization application
We didn't bother getting a lawyer: the paperwork was easy. The problem isn't that the paperwork is hard. The problem is that there is so much paperwork to file.
Re: A decade into a project to digitize U.S. immigration forms, just one is online
#17I've always found the biggest joke in these forms, among other federal forms, to be the OMB "paperwork reduction" statements. [1] Even airport landing customs cards have these. Why these make no sense: - They take up a good chunk of a page and consume both paper and the reader's time. - These forms aren't exactly optional, so I am going to spend time filling them out anyway. They would be easier to fill out if they w…
I think they've started getting rid of custom cards. My folks visited from Europe a few weeks ago and told me they didn't have to fill in anything this time, everything was electronic.
But yeah, otherwise I agree with your statement. When I filled for my green card extension I had to put my application in a box, not an envelop, a box.
Re: A decade into a project to digitize U.S. immigration forms, just one is online
#18Is there a way technology could help here? Perhaps not by involving the US Government directly, but would it be possible to set up a service that allows you to enter your information online, makes sure you have everything correct and consistent, then prints and ships the paper forms to you to sign?
Re: A decade into a project to digitize U.S. immigration forms, just one is online
#19I have heard that consulting companies tend to milk government contracts. I also believe that some people really don't like immigrants and very much want to limit the amount that can come in any way possible.
Also, what tends to happen with a business process is that it involves many people doing their specific part and handing it off to the next people. Properly automating a process can involve eliminating many jobs. And since people like to keep their jobs, the more streamlined redesigns for systems and processes are often not really considered as they would result in too many people being out of work.
That can be especially difficult when decisions are being made by the business organization that wants to protect its power.
Another issue is that business processes just naturally tend to become more and more complex over time. And its hard for people to accept that they need to be streamlined. Because business people generally don't understand user interface design principles and have lots of rules and laws sent down to them from above. So all of those constraints and great ideas from the higher-ups tend to eventually get passed on as over-complex forms and processes.
It seems likely that some of those issues may have factored into this.
Re: A decade into a project to digitize U.S. immigration forms, just one is online
#20The root problem is not government. The same thing happens in the private sector. Large corporations routinely spend gazillions on software projects that end up working poorly or not at all. Everyone who has worked in Corporate America knows this all too well.
The root problem is not bureaucracy either. Companies like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have fairly large bureaucracies yet they routinely successfully complete massive software projects.
The root problem is not "vested interests with complex requirements" either. When coders with large-scale-project experience were put in charge of revamping Obamacare's healthcare.gov, they figured out how to cope with a wide range of demands from a wide range of constituencies in an efficient manner, and got the job done: http://www.thewire.com/politics/2014/02/how-silicon-valley-s...
The root problem, I think, is that the people who are put in charge of these massive software projects -- typically, MBAs or lawyers by training -- often don't know anything about how to develop software at scale. It's like asking people who don't understand rockets to lead development of a new kind of rocket that has never been built before.
Edit: added more detail and context to the third paragraph.