On June 11, 2009, a Washington District Court ordered USCIS to begin accepting concurrently-filed I-360 special immigrant religious worker petitions and I-485 adjustment of status applications.

The court ruled that Petitioners who filed or will file a Petition for Special Immigrant Religious Worker Visa (Form I-360) with USCIS on behalf of individual beneficiaries are hereby notified that you or your beneficiary may now file an Application for Adjustment of Status (Form I-485) and, if your beneficiary seeks employment status as an adjustment applicant, an Application for Employment Authorization (Form I-765) even if the I- 360 petition is pending. Previously, the I-360 had to be adjudicated before the adjustment package could be filed.

Bear in mind that this decision may be subject to Appeal, so things can still change. But for now this is a victory to the applicants filing under this category.