Updated November 11, 2026

F4 visa bulletin: how to check your sibling priority date, read the charts, and apply

The F4 visa bulletin tells you when brothers and sisters of adult U.S. citizens (age 21 and older) can take the final steps toward a Green Card. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, USCIS reports that all family-sponsored preference categories share an annual limit of 226,000 visas per year. Your place in line is set by your priority date, which is the date your U.S. citizen sibling properly filed Form I-130 on your behalf, and for November 2026 USCIS directs all family-sponsored preference adjustment of status applicants to use the Dates for Filing chart in the Department of State Visa Bulletin.

What is the F4 visa category and who qualifies?

The Fourth Preference (F4) immigrant category is for brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens, provided the U.S. citizen petitioner is at least 21 years old. Lawful permanent residents (Green Card holders) cannot petition to bring siblings to live permanently in the United States.

The process begins when the U.S. citizen files Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative. USCIS notes that an approved Form I-130 only demonstrates a qualifying relationship and creates a place in line for visa processing. It does not grant immigration status on its own, and there is no avenue for a sibling to enter the United States to live based on a pending Form I-130.

One Form I-130 covers the sibling's immediate family. The U.S. citizen petitioner does not need to file separate Form I-130 petitions for the sibling's spouse or unmarried children under 21 years of age, as they may apply for Green Cards as derivative applicants.

• Principal applicant: The brother or sister named as the beneficiary on Form I-130.
• Derivative applicants: The principal sibling's spouse and unmarried children under 21 years old.
• Qualifying sibling ties: Biological siblings sharing at least one common parent, siblings through adoption (if the adoption took place before the adopted child turned 16), and siblings through a step-parent.

How do F4 priority dates and numerical limits work?

Unlike immediate relatives of U.S. citizens (spouses, unmarried children under 21, and parents of citizens 21 and older), family preference categories have strict annual numerical caps. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, family-sponsored preference visas are generally limited to 226,000 visas per year, compared to 140,000 per year for employment-based preference visas. By statute, these annual visa limits may be exceeded when certain immigrant visas from the previous fiscal year's allocation were not fully used.

The overall family limit is divided among the preference subcategories (F1, F2A, F2B, F3, and F4), and the law also caps the percentage of visas that can go to any single country of chargeability (usually your country of birth). When demand exceeds the available supply of visas for a category and country, the Department of State considers it oversubscribed and forms a visa queue, establishing a cut-off date.

Your place in that queue is determined by three factors: your preference category (F4), your country of chargeability, and your priority date. For family-sponsored cases, your priority date is the exact date Form I-130 was properly filed with USCIS. You can find your priority date printed on the Form I-797, Notice of Action, issued for the approved or pending Form I-130 petition.

How to read the two F4 visa bulletin charts

Each month, the Department of State publishes the Visa Bulletin with two charts for family-sponsored preference categories: the Application Final Action Dates chart and the Dates for Filing Applications chart.

If you are outside the United States and going through consular processing, the Dates for Filing chart indicates when the National Visa Center (NVC) notifies applicants to assemble and submit required documentation.

If you are already in the United States and eligible to apply for adjustment of status using Form I-485, USCIS announces each month (within one week of the Department of State publishing the Visa Bulletin) which chart you must use. By default, adjustment applicants must use the Application Final Action Dates chart unless USCIS states on its Adjustment of Status Filing Charts page that there are more immigrant visas available for the fiscal year than known applicants. For November 2026, USCIS designated the Dates for Filing chart for all family-sponsored preference filings.

However, USCIS notes an exception: if a particular category is listed as current on the Final Action Dates chart, or if the cut-off date on the Final Action Dates chart is later than the date on the Dates for Filing chart, applicants in that category may file using the Final Action Dates chart during that month.

How to read entries and statuses on the monthly Visa Bulletin charts (USCIS guidance)

Worked example: checking whether your F4 priority date is current

Worked example written by our team. The dates and applicant details are invented to show how USCIS's cut-off rules work in practice.

Suppose your U.S. citizen sister properly filed Form I-130 for you, and your Form I-797, Notice of Action, shows a priority date of May 10, 2008. You are checking the Visa Bulletin to see if a visa is available for your country of chargeability.

Step 1: Check which chart applies. If you are inside the United States in lawful status and want to file Form I-485 in November 2026, you check USCIS's Adjustment of Status Filing Charts webpage. For November 2026, USCIS directs all family-sponsored preference categories to use the Dates for Filing chart.

Step 2: Compare your priority date to the cut-off date. USCIS rules state that a visa is available only when your priority date is earlier than the cut-off date shown on the applicable chart. If the chart shows a cut-off date of May 15, 2008, your May 10, 2008 priority date is earlier than the cut-off date, so you may file. If the chart shows May 10, 2008 (the exact same date) or May 1, 2008, your priority date is not earlier than the cut-off date, and you must wait.

What is visa retrogression and why do dates move backward?

Sometimes an F4 priority date that is current one month is no longer current the next month, or the cut-off date on the Visa Bulletin moves backward to an earlier date. USCIS explains that this is called visa retrogression.

Retrogression happens when more people apply for a visa in a particular preference category than there are visas available for that month. It generally occurs when the annual numerical limit for a category or country has been exhausted or is expected to run out soon.

The U.S. government's new fiscal year begins on October 1. On that date, a new annual supply of immigrant visa numbers becomes available. Usually, though not always, the new October 1 supply returns the cut-off dates to where they were before retrogression occurred.

What happens when your F4 date becomes current: Consular Processing vs. Adjustment of Status

Once your priority date is earlier than the applicable cut-off date, your next step depends on whether you live outside the United States or are already inside the United States lawfully.

If you are outside the United States, your approved Form I-130 petition is sent to the National Visa Center (NVC). When a visa becomes available, the NVC forwards your petition to the appropriate U.S. consulate and notifies you how to proceed through Consular Processing. As USCIS notes, in most instances the beneficiary of a pending or approved immigrant visa will not be eligible for a nonimmigrant visitor visa while waiting.

If you are currently in the United States, you may apply for a Green Card without leaving the country by filing Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, provided you meet all statutory eligibility rules. When a visa is immediately available, you may file Form I-485 concurrently with Form I-130, while Form I-130 is pending, or after Form I-130 is approved (as long as it has not been terminated or revoked).

• Inspected and admitted or paroled: You must generally be physically present in the United States after being inspected and admitted or inspected and paroled by an immigration officer.
• Visa available at both filing and approval: An immigrant visa must be immediately available to you both at the time you file Form I-485 and at the time USCIS makes a final decision on your application.
• Continuing relationship and lawful status: The sibling relationship to the U.S. citizen who filed Form I-130 must still exist, and none of the bars to adjustment under INA 245(c) may apply to you.
• Admissibility: You must be admissible under INA 212(a) or eligible for a waiver of inadmissibility. Note that the labor certification ground of inadmissibility under INA 212(a)(5) does not apply to family preference immigrants.
• Work and travel while Form I-485 is pending: With a pending Form I-485, you may request employment authorization by filing Form I-765 and an Advance Parole travel document by filing Form I-131. Leaving the U.S. without an Advance Parole document generally causes USCIS to consider your Form I-485 abandoned.

Checklist: documents required for Form I-130 and Form I-485 in F4 cases

Our team organized the required USCIS evidence into a two-stage checklist so the U.S. citizen petitioner and the sibling beneficiary know what to gather at the start of the queue and when the priority date becomes current.

Stage 1: What the U.S. citizen petitioner submits with Form I-130 to establish the F4 priority date:

• A completed Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, accompanied by the required filing fee.
• Proof of U.S. citizenship: a copy of a valid U.S. passport, U.S. birth certificate, Consular Report of Birth Abroad, naturalization certificate, or certificate of citizenship.
• Birth certificates: a copy of the petitioner's birth certificate and the sibling's birth certificate showing at least one common parent.
• If related through adoption: a copy of the adoption decree(s) showing the adoption took place before the adopted child turned 16 years old.
• If related through a step-parent: copies of documents showing any prior marriages of the natural parent or step-parent were legally terminated, plus the marriage certificate of the step-parent to the natural parent.
• If paternal half-siblings (common biological father, different mothers): copies of the father's marriage certificates to each mother, plus proof that any prior marriages of either the father or mothers were legally terminated.
• Proof of any legal name change for the petitioner or sibling, such as a marriage certificate, divorce decree, adoption decree, or court judgment.

Stage 2 checklist: Form I-485 documents and Following-to-Join family members

When the F4 priority date is current and the sibling is eligible to adjust status inside the United States, the principal applicant and any derivative family members must each submit a complete Form I-485 package with the correct filing fees.

Documents required for the principal F4 applicant and derivative spouse or children filing Form I-485:

• Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, plus two passport-style photographs and a copy of a government-issued identity document with a photograph.
• Copy of Form I-797, Approval or Receipt Notice, for the Form I-130 petition (unless filing concurrently). Derivatives not filing together with the principal must also include the principal's Form I-485 Form I-797 notice or a copy of the principal's Green Card.
• Copy of birth certificate, plus marriage certificate and proof of termination of any prior marriages (for the principal or derivative relationship).
• Copy of passport pages with nonimmigrant visa and admission or parole stamps, plus Form I-94, Arrival/Departure Record, and proof of continuously maintaining lawful status since arriving in the United States.
• Form I-864 or Form I-864EZ, Affidavit of Support Under Section 213A of the INA.
• Form I-693, Report of Immigration Medical Examination and Vaccination Record (or partial Form I-693, if applicable), which must be submitted with Form I-485 or the application may be rejected.
• Certified police and court records of any criminal charges, arrests, or convictions, plus any applicable waiver or status forms.
• Following-to-join benefits (Form I-824): If your spouse or unmarried children under 21 did not obtain permanent residence at the same time you did, and the relationship existed when you became a permanent resident and still exists, they do not need a separate Form I-130 or extra wait time for a visa number. If you adjusted status in the U.S., file Form I-824 with a copy of the original petition/application, its Form I-797, and your Form I-551 (Green Card), or file Form I-824 concurrently with your Form I-485 without supporting documents. If you received your immigrant visa overseas, contact the National Visa Center by e-mail or by writing to its office on Rochester Avenue in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

What the officer checks about your sibling petition and priority date

Whether you apply for an immigrant visa through Consular Processing after the National Visa Center forwards your file to a U.S. consulate, or apply for Adjustment of Status inside the United States with USCIS, the officer checks that every requirement from your initial petition through final visa availability is met.

First, the officer verifies that the qualifying sibling relationship to the U.S. citizen who filed Form I-130 still exists and that your civil records match the relationship claimed on the petition.

Second, the officer checks that an immigrant visa number is immediately available for your F4 preference category and country of chargeability based on the priority date printed on your Form I-797, Notice of Action. For applicants adjusting status in the United States, USCIS requires that a visa be immediately available both when you file Form I-485 and when USCIS makes a final decision on the application. If visa retrogression moves the cut-off date backward before a final decision is made, final approval cannot happen until the priority date is earlier than the Application Final Action Date again.

Third, the officer reviews the petitioner's Affidavit of Support and confirms the eligibility of any derivative spouse or unmarried child under 21 applying with you or following to join you later. Expect the officer to ask questions like these:

• Question: How are you related to the petitioner, and which parent do you share? What the officer checks: That your birth certificates, marriage certificates, or adoption decrees before age 16 match the relationship claimed on Form I-130.
• Question: Have you or your U.S. citizen sibling ever used another name? What the officer checks: That any different names on civil records are backed by a legal name change document such as a marriage certificate, divorce decree, adoption decree, or court judgment.
• Question: When did your sibling file Form I-130 for you, and what is your country of birth? What the officer checks: Your priority date on Form I-797, your F4 preference category, and your country of chargeability against the Visa Bulletin cut-off date.
• Question: If adjusting status in the United States, how did you enter the country and what status have you held since arriving? What the officer checks: Your passport admission or parole stamp, Form I-94 Arrival/Departure Record from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and evidence that you continuously maintained lawful status and face no adjustment bars under INA 245(c).
• Question: Who is immigrating with you or following to join you later? What the officer checks: That a derivative spouse or unmarried child under 21 has proof of relationship to the principal applicant, and for following-to-join cases, that the relationship existed when the principal became a permanent resident.

Practice example

How are you and your U.S. citizen petitioner related, and what documents do you have today to show your relationship and that your priority date is current?

Give a clear, direct explanation of how you and your U.S. citizen sibling share at least one common parent, and match every date and name to your Form I-130 and civil records. State when your sibling became a U.S. citizen, the priority date on your Form I-797 Notice of Action, and whether you are biological siblings, half-siblings, step-siblings, or related through adoption before age 16. Have your original and copy birth certificates ready showing your common parent's name, along with any legal name change certificates, your petitioner's Form I-864 Affidavit of Support, and parents' marriage and termination decrees if you are step-siblings or paternal half-siblings. If your spouse or unmarried children under 21 are applying with you as derivatives, be ready to hand over their marriage and birth certificates as well.

For family preference cases, USCIS and consular officers verify that the qualifying sibling relationship established on Form I-130 still exists, that your priority date makes a visa immediately available, and that your civil documents and Form I-864 match your testimony.

This is interview practice, not legal advice. For questions about your own case, talk to an immigration attorney. Visaful is not affiliated with the U.S. government or the Department of State.