Development and Initial Validation of a Psychometric Scale for Immigration Stress Caused by Backlog in the Green-Card Application Process for Visa Holders

The current state of immigration for millions of visa holders, both workers and their families, includes a long waiting period--typically for years--to receive a green card which allows for permanent legal resident status. The objective of this study is to conduct an online survey of individuals who are ages 18 and above and are non-immigrant H-1B employment visa holders who are currently in the process of waiting for their green card to be approved and have been waiting for approval for more than 1 year. The survey consists of multiple-choice questions formulated based on literature reviews, pre-testing, and content validation. The questions refer to the participant’s position in the backlog and their feelings regarding the impacts. The research is quantitative in that answer choices will be ranked on a numerical scale to differentiate the different levels of stress through the development and validation of a psychometric scale. An analytic review of literature reveals that there is increased stress among U.S visa holders who have been waiting in the process of green card approval for many years. The objective of this study is to conduct an online survey of individuals who are ages 18 and above and are non-immigrant H-1B, F-1, and H-4 visa holders who are currently in the process of waiting for their green card to be approved and have been waiting for approval for more than 1 year. The results of the study will allow us to study the psychological effects of the green-card backlog on employment-based visa holders, their spouses, and their college-aged children. To evaluate this, data was collected on general descriptive sociodemographic factors (age, income, gender, location, education, and marital status) as well as specific factors that are characteristic to visa-holding permanent residency applicants (year of arrival in the U.S, green-card priority date, current stage in the filing process, level of job position, type of job position, country of origin, years of employment, and number of positions held). Apart from demographic items, the psychological items consisted of questions modeled after the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) with ratings on a 5-point Likert-type scale.  The impact of the immigration green-card backlog on stress levels and the relationship to various sociodemographic factors were studied based on analysis of the data generated by the survey responses. he results were analyzed for statistical significance and relationships between variables using the T-Test, linear regression, correlation, and ANOVA statistical functions.