The US District Court for the Western District of Washington has granted summary judgment to the plaintiffs in the class-action case Gabriel Ruiz-Diaz, et. al. vs.
The Court held that the governments policy barring concurrent filing of I-485 applications for adjustment of status with I-360 special immigrant religious worker petitions was both an unreasonable and impermissible construction of the governing statute.
The parties must begin settlement discussions regarding an order for relief within the next twenty days. For now, the court has not ordered USCIS to begin accepting concurrent filings.
This is great news for I-360 Religious Workers who have been singled out and unable to file I-485 applications concurrently with I-360 Petitions. We commend the Seattle firm Gibbs Houston Pauw for bringing this case and hope that more class-actions on behalf of applicants for immigration benefiots make their way through the Courts when justice so requires.
