The Employment-Based Immigration: Fourth Preference EB-4 is designed for the interested special immigrant. In order to become eligible for this category, an applicant must be one of the following special immigrants:
- Religious Workers
- Special Immigrant Juveniles
- Broadcasters
- G-4 International Organization or NATO-6 Employees and Their Family Members
- International Employees of the U.S. Government Abroad
- Armed Forces Members
- Panama Canal Zone Employees
- Certain Physicians
- Afghan and Iraqi Translators
- Afghan and Iraqi Nationals Who Have Provided Faith Service in Support of U.S. Operations
Special Immigrant Religious Workers
Ministers and non-ministers cam migrate to the USA. The purpose of their migration can be performing religious work. That religious work to be performed must be on a full-time compensated position.
Eligibility
In order to become eligible for this category, an applicant must meet the following requirements:
- The applicants must have been a member of a religious denomination that has a bona fide non-profit religious organization in the United States for at least 2 years immediately that too before the filing of a petition for this status with USCIS.
- The applicants must be seeking to enter the United States to work in a full time, compensated position in one of the following occupations:
- Solely as a minister of that religious denomination;
- A religious vocation either in a professional or nonprofessional capacity;
- A religious occupation either in a professional or nonprofessional capacity; or
- A bona fide non-profit religious organization in the United States
- The applicants must be migrating to the USA to work for either:
- A bona fide non-profit religious organization in the United States; or
- A bona fide organization that is affiliated with the religious denomination in the United States.
- The applicants have been working in one of the positions mentioned above after the age of 14, either abroad or in the United States, continuously for at least 2 years immediately before the filing of a petition with USCIS. The previous religious work need not correspond precisely to the type of work to be performed. Any break in the continuity of the work during the preceding two years will not affect eligibility so long as the following requirements are met by the applicants:
- The foreign national was still employed as a religious worker;
- The break should not be more than two years; and
- The nature of the break was for further religious training or for a sabbatical. However, the foreign national must have been a member of the petitioner’s denomination throughout the two years of qualifying employment.
Special Immigrant Juveniles
This category is for all those immigrants who are under the age of 21 and have been abused, neglected, or abandoned by one or both parents. Those applicants who are in the USA and need the protection of the juvenile court may be eligible for Special Immigrant Juveniles (SIJ) classification
Eligibility
In order to become eligible for this category, an applicant must meet the following requirements:
The applicants must: |
When? |
| The applicants must be under 21 years of age.
|
Only at the time, the applicants file the SIJ petition (Form I-360). |
| Be currently living in the United States. The applicants cannot apply from outside the country to come to the United States on SIJ classification. | Both at the time the applicants file the SIJ petition and at the time USCIS makes a decision on their petition. |
The applicants must be unmarried. This means the applicants either:
|
Both at the time the applicants file the SIJ petition and at the time USCIS makes a decision on their petition. |
Have a valid juvenile court order issued by a state court in the United States which finds that:
AND
Note: Some juvenile courts may only be able to issue a juvenile court order if the applicants are under 18 years of age. |
Both at the time the applicants file the SIJ petition and at the time USCIS makes a decision on their petition.
EXCEPTIONS: The applicants do not need to currently be under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court that issued their order if the court’s jurisdiction ended solely because:
|
| Be eligible for USCIS consent. This means that the applicants must have sought the juvenile court order to obtain relief from abuse, neglect, abandonment, or a similar basis under state law and not primarily to obtain an immigration benefit. | At the time USCIS makes a decision on their petition. |
Have written consent from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)/ Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to the court’s jurisdiction if:
|
At the time USCIS makes a decision on their petition.
Please see the HHS website for instructions (PDF) on obtaining HHS consent. |
Broadcasters
This visa allows an immigrant to work as a broadcaster for the BBG or a grantee of the BBG in the United States. This is a special permanent residency program for a reporter, writer, translator, editor, producer or announcer for news broadcasts; hosts for news broadcasts, news analysis, editorial and other broadcast features; or a news analysis specialist. Individuals performing purely technical or support services for the BBG or a BBG grantee are not included in broadcasters. Also, the BBG grantee means Radio Free Asia, Inc (RFA) or Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Inc. (RFE/RL)
