F4 Adjustment of Status

Who qualifies for F4 adjustment of status?

See Family Preference Adjustment of Status.

What counts as a qualifying brother or sister?

The sibling relationship generally depends on whether both persons qualify as children of at least one common parent under the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Possible qualifying relationships can include:

• Full biological siblings;
• Half-siblings sharing one biological parent;
• Step-siblings where the underlying step-parent relationships satisfy immigration-law requirements;
• Adopted siblings where the applicable adoption requirements are satisfied; and
• Other sibling relationships established through qualifying parent-child relationships under the INA.

Evidence of a full sibling relationship

Where the petitioner and beneficiary share both biological parents, the relationship is commonly established through civil birth records showing the same parents.

Additional evidence may be needed where:

• A birth was registered late;
• A parent's name differs among records;
• Civil records are unavailable;
• A birth certificate was amended;
• The family used different surnames; or
• USCIS questions the claimed biological relationship.

Secondary evidence can include school, medical, religious, census, family, and other contemporaneous records. DNA testing may sometimes be used when documentary evidence is insufficient.

Half-siblings can qualify

Brothers and sisters do not necessarily need to share both parents.

If the petitioner and beneficiary share one qualifying parent, a half-sibling relationship may support F4 classification.

The evidence should establish:

• The petitioner's qualifying relationship to the common parent;
• The beneficiary's qualifying relationship to the same parent; and
• Any legitimation, marriage, paternity, or other facts necessary under the statutory parent-child definitions.

Step-sibling cases require careful timing

A step-relationship can create immigration parent-child relationships when the marriage creating the step relationship occurred before the child's 18th birthday.

In a sibling petition involving step relationships, USCIS may therefore need evidence showing:

• The relevant biological relationships;
• The marriage creating each step relationship;
• The age of the child when the marriage occurred;
• Termination of prior marriages; and
• The resulting statutory relationship between petitioner and beneficiary.

Adopted sibling relationships can qualify

An adoption may create a qualifying sibling relationship if the applicable statutory adoption requirements are satisfied.

Depending on the history, evidence may include:

• Adoption decrees;
• Evidence of age at adoption;
• Legal custody records;
• Joint residence evidence;
• Hague or orphan adoption records where relevant; and
• Documentation establishing how the adopted person qualifies as the child of the relevant parent.

A valid adoption under local law should not automatically be assumed to satisfy every immigration requirement.

The F4 priority date

The priority date is generally the date USCIS properly receives Form I-130.

That date establishes the principal beneficiary's place in the F4 visa queue.

The applicant should preserve evidence of:

• The original Form I-130 filing date;
• The I-130 receipt notice;
• The I-130 approval notice;
• Any petition transfer or reopening history; and
• The correct country of chargeability.

See Priority Dates for Form I-485.

F4 is subject to annual numerical limits

An approved F4 petition does not create an immediately available immigrant visa.

The beneficiary generally must wait until the priority date becomes eligible under the family-sponsored Visa Bulletin.

See Final Action Dates vs. Dates for Filing and Which Visa Bulletin Chart Does USCIS Use?.

Long F4 waiting periods create adjustment problems

An F4 beneficiary can wait many years between filing Form I-130 and becoming eligible for an immigrant visa.

During that period, the beneficiary may experience:

• Expiration of nonimmigrant status;
• Unauthorized employment;
• Marriage, divorce, or birth of children;
• Children approaching age 21;
• Changes in country of residence;
• Removal proceedings;
• New family or employment immigration opportunities; or
• Death of the petitioner or another relevant family member.

The principal applicant generally must have been admitted or paroled

When the F4 priority date eventually permits adjustment, the principal beneficiary must still satisfy INA §245(a) unless another adjustment provision applies.

See Entry Without Inspection and Adjustment of Status.

Overstay generally bars ordinary F4 adjustment

F4 beneficiaries do not receive the broad INA §245(c)(2) exemption available to qualifying immediate relatives.

A principal or derivative who fails to maintain lawful immigration status can therefore become ineligible for ordinary adjustment.

Potential problems include:

• Remaining after an I-94 expires;
• Loss of student status;
• Loss of dependent status;
• Violation of nonimmigrant status; and
• Other failures to maintain lawful status.

See Failure to Maintain Lawful Status and Adjustment of Status.

Unauthorized employment generally matters

F4 principal and derivative applicants generally remain subject to the applicable unauthorized-employment adjustment bars.

Potential issues include:

• Employment without an EAD;
• Employment after work authorization expires;
• Unauthorized freelance work;
• Independent contracting;
• Unauthorized self-employment; and
• Employment outside the terms of nonimmigrant status.

See Unauthorized Employment and Adjustment of Status.

INA §245(k) does not ordinarily apply to F4 adjustment

INA §245(k) is an employment-based adjustment provision.

An applicant adjusting solely through an F4 family petition generally cannot use §245(k) to cure unlawful status or unauthorized employment.

A principal or derivative who independently has a qualifying employment-based immigrant petition may have another adjustment strategy, but that is a separate immigrant basis.

INA §245(i) can be especially important in an old F4 case

Because many F4 petitions date back decades, some beneficiaries may be grandfathered under INA §245(i) through a qualifying petition or labor certification filed within the statutory period.

Section 245(i) can potentially permit adjustment despite:

• Entry without inspection;
• Failure to maintain lawful status;
• Unauthorized employment; and
• Certain other adjustment obstacles covered by the statute.

The filing that created §245(i) grandfathering does not necessarily need to be the current F4 petition.

See INA §245(i).

F4 permits derivative spouses and children

A qualifying spouse and qualifying children of the principal F4 beneficiary may generally receive derivative classification under INA §203(d).

The derivatives ordinarily use the principal beneficiary's F4 priority date and preference classification.

See Visa Availability for Derivative Applicants.

CSPA is often critical for F4 derivative children

F4 is one of the categories in which the Child Status Protection Act frequently determines whether a child can still immigrate with the family after a very long visa wait.

The CSPA analysis can include:

• The child's biological age when a visa becomes available for CSPA purposes;
• The amount of qualifying petition pendency that can be subtracted;
• The child's continuing unmarried status;
• The one-year sought-to-acquire requirement; and
• Any recognized extraordinary-circumstances exception.

See Child Status Protection Act and Form I-485.

A child born years after the I-130 was filed may still derive

Derivative eligibility is not necessarily limited to children who existed when the U.S. citizen sibling originally filed Form I-130.

A qualifying child of the principal beneficiary who is born later may potentially derive if the child satisfies the statutory requirements when immigration occurs.

The family should document:

• The child's birth and relationship to the principal;
• Age;
• Marital status;
• CSPA eligibility; and
• Individual adjustment or immigrant visa eligibility.

A later marriage can create a derivative spouse

The principal F4 beneficiary does not generally need to have been married when the original sibling petition was filed.

A spouse acquired during the long waiting period may potentially become a derivative if the marriage exists and satisfies immigration requirements when derivative immigration benefits are sought.

The marriage should be legally valid and genuine, and the derivative spouse must independently satisfy the applicable adjustment or immigrant visa requirements.

Divorce can eliminate derivative spouse eligibility

A derivative spouse qualifies because of the marriage to the principal beneficiary.

If the marriage legally terminates before the spouse becomes a permanent resident through the F4 case, the former spouse generally loses derivative classification.

The principal beneficiary's F4 sibling classification ordinarily continues because F4 eligibility does not depend on the principal being married.

Each derivative has an independent INA §245 analysis

The principal's eligibility does not cure a spouse's or child's separate adjustment problem.

For example:

• The principal may have maintained lawful status while the spouse overstayed;
• The spouse may have unauthorized employment;
• A derivative child may have entered without inspection;
• One applicant may be grandfathered under INA §245(i) while another is not; or
• A family member may have separate removal or inadmissibility history.

Cross-chargeability can sometimes help an F4 family

A principal beneficiary or derivative spouse may sometimes use the other spouse's country of chargeability under the statutory cross-chargeability rules.

This can matter where one spouse was born in a country with a separate and less favorable F4 cutoff.

See Cross-Chargeability for Form I-485.

Visa retrogression after Form I-485 filing

An F4 applicant may properly file Form I-485 when eligible and later experience visa retrogression.

If the Final Action Date moves backward:

• The properly filed adjustment application can generally remain pending;
• USCIS ordinarily cannot approve the case until an immigrant visa again becomes available;
• Derivative CSPA issues may continue to require monitoring;
• The qualifying family relationships must continue where required; and
• Each applicant must continue to satisfy all other adjustment requirements.

See Visa Retrogression After Filing Form I-485.

The principal and derivatives must independently be admissible

Every Form I-485 applicant must establish admissibility under INA §212.

Potential issues include:

• Criminal inadmissibility;
• Controlled substance issues;
• Fraud or willful misrepresentation;
• False claims to U.S. citizenship;
• Prior removal;
• Unlawful presence after departure;
• Illegal reentry;
• Alien smuggling;
• Health-related grounds;
• Security-related grounds;
• Public charge; and
• Other statutory grounds.

An approved sibling petition does not determine these individual issues.

Form I-864 is generally required

F4 principal and derivative immigrants are generally subject to the affidavit-of-support requirements under INA §213A unless an exemption applies.

The U.S. citizen petitioner ordinarily submits Form I-864.

The household-size calculation can include:

• The petitioner;
• The principal beneficiary;
• Derivative family members immigrating with or following to join;
• Tax dependents;
• Previously sponsored immigrants where the obligation remains in force; and
• Other persons required by the Form I-864 rules.

A qualifying joint sponsor may be used when the petitioner's income is insufficient, but the petitioner generally remains a required sponsor.

Death of the U.S. citizen petitioner

Because F4 waiting periods can be very long, the petitioning U.S. citizen may die before the beneficiary immigrates.

The petition should not automatically be assumed lost without examining possible relief.

Potential mechanisms can include:

• INA §204(l) for qualifying surviving relatives who satisfy the statutory residence requirements;
• Humanitarian reinstatement of certain approved family petitions; and
• Another independent immigrant basis.

The availability of relief depends on the procedural posture and individual facts.

Changing to a faster immigrant category

An F4 beneficiary can acquire another immigration option during the long wait.

Examples include:

• Marriage to a U.S. citizen;
• An employment-based I-140;
• EB-1A classification;
• EB-2 National Interest Waiver;
• A qualifying petition from another family member; or
• A special immigrant or adjustment category.

A new immigrant basis can have a much shorter visa wait and may also have different adjustment-bar rules.

If Form I-485 is already pending, the applicant can evaluate whether a Transfer of Underlying Basis / Interfiling is available.

Removal proceedings and F4 adjustment

An approved F4 petition does not automatically give USCIS jurisdiction over Form I-485.

For a principal or derivative with immigration-court history, review:

• Pending removal proceedings;
• Final removal orders;
• In absentia orders;
• Reopening or reconsideration;
• Termination or dismissal of proceedings;
• Arriving-alien issues; and
• Whether USCIS or EOIR has adjustment jurisdiction.

Evidence checklist

• Proof the petitioner is a U.S. citizen.
• Proof the petitioner was at least 21 when legally required.
• Form I-130 receipt and approval notices.
• Birth records establishing the sibling relationship.
• Marriage, divorce, legitimation, step-parent, or adoption records where relevant.
• Priority-date documentation.
• Visa Bulletin evidence.
• Derivative spouse marriage evidence.
• Derivative children's birth and relationship evidence.
• CSPA calculations and sought-to-acquire evidence.
• Passport and identity documents for each applicant.
• I-94 or other admission or parole evidence.
• Complete immigration-status history.
• Employment authorization history.
• INA §245(i) grandfathering evidence where applicable.
• Form I-864 and financial evidence.
• Medical examination documentation.
• Evidence addressing individual inadmissibility issues.

Common F4 adjustment problems

Primary authorities

Related INA245.com guides

Frequently asked questions