Every year, over 1.3 million people apply to visit, work, or settle in Canada. The task of determining who is allowed in falls to visa officers, civil servants whose job it is to enhance and protect Canadian society. As gatekeepers, they yield tremendous power over the lives of the applicants they screen. In the face of such enormous responsibility, how do they assess credibility and risk?To answer this question, renowned sociologist Vic Satzewich conducted interviews with 128 Canadian visa officers, locally engaged staff, and immigration program managers at eleven visa offices in Europe, the United States, the Middle East, South America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia. Contrary to popular opinion, he found that individual biases rarely influence officers’ decisions. Instead, a combination of experience, organizational culture, and accumulated local knowledge shapes how they decide who gets in. When something in an application does not “add up" – somber photographs from a supposed wedding celebration, for example – an officer conducts follow-up interviews with the applicant. In a world where no two visa applications are the same, and in the context of complex and shifting population movements and pressures, this is a fascinating look at how visa officers do their work. | Points of Entry by Vic Satzewich, Paperback | Indigo Chapters