What Is the EB-4 Green Card and Who Qualifies as a Special Immigrant?

TL;DR: EB-4 is the employment-based fourth preference green card category for narrowly defined "special immigrants" — mainly religious workers, Special Immigrant Juveniles (SIJ), certain international broadcasters, and long-term US government employees abroad. It gets only about 10,000 visas a year (7.1% of the worldwide employment-based limit), so it backlogs and retrogresses frequently, unlike EB-1 through EB-3.

Claim and evidence

Unlike EB-1, EB-2, or EB-3, which are built around skills or job offers, EB-4 is built around a specific role or circumstance. Congress caps EB-4 at 7.1% of the worldwide employment-based limit — roughly 10,000 visas annually — with its own sub-caps: up to 5,000 for certain non-minister religious workers, up to 3,000 for certain long-term US government employees abroad, and up to 100 for international broadcasters. As of the April 2026 Visa Bulletin, the EB-4 priority date for all countries stood at January 1, 2023, and retrogressed further to July 15, 2022 in May 2026 — evidence of how demand regularly exceeds this category's small annual supply.

Who qualifies for EB-4

• Religious workers: full-time ministers or other religious workers employed by a nonprofit religious organization or its nonprofit affiliate.
• Special Immigrant Juveniles (SIJ): unmarried immigrants under 21 who are dependent on a US juvenile court due to abuse, abandonment, or neglect.
• International broadcasters: employees of the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), including translators, reporters, and producers.
• US government employees abroad: certain long-term employees of US embassies and their family members.
• Other narrow groups: certain members of the US armed forces, Panama Canal company/Canal Zone government employees, certain long-term physicians licensed before January 9, 1978, and Afghan/Iraqi nationals who assisted the US government.

Step-by-step: the EB-4 process

1. Confirm which special immigrant category applies to you — the list is closed and specific, not a general skills-based path.
2. File Form I-360 with evidence supporting the specific category (e.g., employment verification for religious workers, a juvenile court order for SIJ applicants).
3. Watch your priority date against the Visa Bulletin. Your I-360 filing date generally becomes your priority date and controls when you can move to the green card stage.
4. File for your green card once your priority date is current — Form I-485 if adjusting status in the US, or DS-260 through consular processing if abroad.
5. Attend biometrics and an interview, then receive your green card if approved.

FAQ

What's the difference between EB-3 and EB-4? EB-3 covers skilled workers, professionals, and other workers, usually requiring PERM labor certification and a permanent job offer. EB-4 is a closed list of "special immigrant" categories, often without a PERM requirement, focused on humanitarian or mission-based roles rather than labor-market need.

Can I include my family on my EB-4 application? In most categories, yes — a spouse and unmarried children under 21 can apply as derivatives with their own I-485 or DS-260 filings, though timing for children nearing 21 should be reviewed carefully.

Can a Special Immigrant Juvenile later sponsor their parents? Generally no. SIJ status includes a statutory bar on later sponsoring parents for immigration benefits, even after becoming a lawful permanent resident or US citizen, because SIJ classification is legally tied to abuse, abandonment, or neglect by a parent.

Why does EB-4 retrogress so often? Because it receives only about 10,000 visas a year worldwide (with internal sub-caps for religious workers and government employees), demand regularly outpaces supply, causing the Visa Bulletin cut-off date to move backward (retrogress) from month to month.

Sources: USCIS Employment-Based Immigration: Fourth Preference EB-4 guidance; US Department of State Visa Bulletin, April and May 2026.

By Pinal Dave Last updated: 2026-08-03