Immigration Law

USCIS Accepting Concurrently Filed Religious Worker Petitions Form I-360 and Adjustment of Status Applications Form I-485

By Robert Kraft

Do you have a pending Form I-360 Special Immigrant Religious Worker Petition? If so, you are now eligible to file an application to adjust your status to permanent resident. On June 25, 2009, in response the district court's order in Ruiz-Diaz v. United States, No. CO7-1881RSL (W.D. Wash. June 11, 2009), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is now accepting concurrently filed Form I-360 and Form I-485 Applications to Adjustment. Applicants who filed Form I-360 religious worker petitions and are currently pending with USCIS are immediately eligible to file Form I-485 Application to Adjust Status and Form I-765 Application for Employment Authorization. USCIS has posted this notice on their website and is available at http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/dkt_127-2_notice.pdf.
 
Under the district court's order, if you have a Form I-360 religious worker petition that is pending with USCIS as of June 11, 2009, then you are eligible to file Form I-485 and/or Form I-765. Also, applicants filing after June 11, 2009, are eligible to concurrently file Form I-360/I-485. The order protects foreign nationals from the accrual of unlawful presence and unauthorized work since any period of unlawful presence and unlawful employment will be tolled until will be tolled until September 9, 2009.
 
For additional information please see the USCIS Web site.
 

Full post as published by Immigration Law Answers Blog on June 30, 2009 (boomark / email).