Immigration to go Paperless
The Bush Administration has launched an initiative with the help of IBM for changing the way immigration applications for visas, citizenship and approval to work in the United States are handled. The five-year, $500 million effort would convert the case-management system for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services from paper to electronic.
The new system would allow other federal agencies to access immigration records faster. It would save time from the paper files and reduce the labor-intensive filing system currently in place.
Should Congress overhaul current immigration laws to include a guest-worker program or amnesty, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services suggest that it could cost $3.5 billion worth of work to convert the system.
The Washington Post has more on this story.