Work eligibility with F4

[deysubhendu]

Hi, my friend has recently lost his job. He is on H1B and has been living in US for past 10 years with his family. He has been trying to get a job but so far, nothing positive has come up yet. He is loosing hope day by day and loosing his confidence. However, he is eligible to apply for F4 as his brother is a US citizen, but the question is, will he be able to work in US right away once he applies for F4?

[newacct]

What do you mean by "apply for F4"? For family-based immigration, the petitioner (his brother) would have to file an I-130 petition, and the date the I-130 is filed is the priority date. He needs to wait until a visa number is almost available for his category and priority date before he can proceed to the next step, which is either Adjustment of Status inside the US, or Consular Processing for an immigrant visa abroad. According to the latest visa bulletin, visa numbers are currently available for F4 petitions filed about 16.5 years ago (or even longer ago for people born in India, Mexico, or the Philippines). So did his brother file I-130 for him about 16+ years ago? If not, there is nothing for him to apply for now.