Policy Work in Visa Sections

This chapter focuses on how visa sections actually work by shedding light on the workplace, the trajectories and the social construction of workers’ reputation, the allocation of tasks, the knowledge required to perform the job, and the conditions underlining the making of routines. I use the notion of local and practical knowledge because it is the kind of knowledge that allows for carrying out day-to-day EU visa policy implementation. The chapter highlights that routines are the modes of organizational action. It focuses on the organizational conditions and the nature of the work in visa sections that account for the making of routines: staff turnover, knowledge required, uncertainty, supervisory authority, and social limits to the uses of discretion. Similarities are to be found in the skills required to perform the job and skills-learning processes. Also, in the three visa sections, hierarchies, responsibilities, and tasks do not necessarily overlap. Differences emerge in the ways in which the problem of making decisions is framed within the three national organizations.