No end in sight to US immigration horrors

Washington

HEAVING under mountains of paperwork, the government has spent more than US$1 billion trying to replace its antiquated approach to managing immigration with a system of digitised records, online applications and a full suite of nearly 100 electronic forms.

A decade in, all that officials have to show for the effort is a single form that's now available for online applications and a single type of fee that immigrants pay electronically. The 94 other forms can be filed only with paper.