The USCIS' Texas Service Center is reported to have started a new "PLUS Pilot" program for adjudicating concurrently-filed adjustment of status (AOS) applications.
Until recently, each form component in a typical AOS packet was separated and sent to a different USCIS officer for a preliminary name check and adjudication. The PLUS Pilot will allow one officer to review the packet as a whole, which includes the I-140 Immigrant Petition, I-485 AOS application, I-765 Employment Authorization application, and I-131 Advance Parole Travel application, and supporting all documentation. The pilot is aimed at eliminating repetitive steps in the adjudication process. AOS applicants may begin to see one USCIS Request for Evidence (RFE) that requests information for more than one application within a single AOS packet or one envelope containing multiple, related RFEs.
While less than two weeks have passed since the pilot was implemented, some anecdotal reports are that this new program seems to be faster than the previous process. Applicants may see some more recently-filed AOS cases being completed before others that have been pending longer. The TSC reports that this is likely due to the recent pilot implementation and that applicants with longer pending cases should not send inquiries about their cases unless and until their cases fall outside of posted USCIS processing times.