First Advisor

Tugrul U. Daim

Term of Graduation

Spring 2024

Date of Publication

5-16-2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Technology Management

Department

Engineering and Technology Management

Language

English

DOI

10.15760/etd.3759

Physical Description

1 online resource (xx, 255 pages)

Abstract

The U.S. Immigration System is complex for technology professionals seeking to relocate to the United States for employment or education. The United States relies on its employment-based immigration to attract and select the best talent to fill the shortage of skilled jobs. Technology professionals, a stream of highly skilled immigrants, tend to contribute and be more beneficial to the U.S. economy, which is one of the principles of U.S. immigration policies. Although U.S. immigration policies are constantly updating, policymakers, experts, and scholars suggest that the United States needs significant immigration reform to solve current issues, such as improving technological capabilities to process applications, backlog, paths for permanent residence, numerical limits per visa category, and others.

Therefore, this research aims to develop a Hierarchical Decision Model (HDM) to evaluate U.S. immigration policies for technology professionals. Moreover, this research can guide policymakers to fix current U.S. immigration issues. The research process of this dissertation is organized as follows: (1) a systematic literature review was conducted to identify gaps, research questions, objectives, and an initial four-level HDM. The second level of the model includes five criteria: Technological, Regulatory Landscape, Economic, Political Interpretation & Proposals, and Social. The third level includes twenty-one subcriteria, and the fourth level includes five alternatives: Permanent Residence and visas H-1B, O-1, F-1 STEM OPT, and L-1. (2) 60 experts working in some vein in U.S. immigration policies participated in this study to validate the HDM criteria, sub-criteria, and alternatives and quantify the HDM criteria, sub-criteria, and alternatives using a pairwise comparison technique to provide their judgment. The last sections of this dissertation include (1) a sensitivity analysis to demonstrate the HDM's flexibility and (2) policy guide recommendations for decision-makers based on the HDM results.

Rights

© 2024 Angel Contreras Cruz

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/42232

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