In a decision issued on June 11, 2009, the US District Court, Western District of Washington at Seattle in the case Gabriel Ruiz-Diaz et al. vs. United States of America et al., ordered the defendants to “accept as properly filed adjustment of status applications (Form I-485) and employment authorization applications (Form I-765) from individuals who are beneficiaries of petitions for special immigrant visas (Form I-360), whether submitted concurrently with or  subsequent to the vbisa petition provided the applications meet defendants’ valid filing requirements.”

This is a very favorable decision in which the class-action plaintiffs succeeded on all fronts.  The Court even refused the government’s request to stay the matter pending appeal and ordered that the decision be posted on the USCIS website within 15 days.

We will see how the USCIS handles this and I will update this blog as news is forthcoming.