diff --git a/command/apply_test.go b/command/apply_test.go
index 052bd592c..c5379c4f3 100644
--- a/command/apply_test.go
+++ b/command/apply_test.go
@@ -58,6 +58,82 @@ func TestApply(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestApply_parallelism1(t *testing.T) {
+	statePath := testTempFile(t)
+
+	ui := new(cli.MockUi)
+	p := testProvider()
+	pr := new(terraform.MockResourceProvisioner)
+
+	pr.ApplyFn = func(*terraform.InstanceState, *terraform.ResourceConfig) error {
+		time.Sleep(time.Second)
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	args := []string{
+		"-state", statePath,
+		"-parallelism=1",
+		testFixturePath("parallelism"),
+	}
+
+	c := &ApplyCommand{
+		Meta: Meta{
+			ContextOpts: testCtxConfigWithShell(p, pr),
+			Ui:          ui,
+		},
+	}
+
+	start := time.Now()
+	if code := c.Run(args); code != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("bad: %d\n\n%s", code, ui.ErrorWriter.String())
+	}
+	elapsed := time.Since(start).Seconds()
+
+	// This test should take exactly two seconds, plus some minor amount of execution time.
+	if elapsed < 2 || elapsed > 2.2 {
+		t.Fatalf("bad: %f\n\n%s", elapsed, ui.ErrorWriter.String())
+	}
+
+}
+
+func TestApply_parallelism2(t *testing.T) {
+	statePath := testTempFile(t)
+
+	ui := new(cli.MockUi)
+	p := testProvider()
+	pr := new(terraform.MockResourceProvisioner)
+
+	pr.ApplyFn = func(*terraform.InstanceState, *terraform.ResourceConfig) error {
+		time.Sleep(time.Second)
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	args := []string{
+		"-state", statePath,
+		"-parallelism=2",
+		testFixturePath("parallelism"),
+	}
+
+	c := &ApplyCommand{
+		Meta: Meta{
+			ContextOpts: testCtxConfigWithShell(p, pr),
+			Ui:          ui,
+		},
+	}
+
+	start := time.Now()
+	if code := c.Run(args); code != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("bad: %d\n\n%s", code, ui.ErrorWriter.String())
+	}
+	elapsed := time.Since(start).Seconds()
+
+	// This test should take exactly one second, plus some minor amount of execution time.
+	if elapsed < 1 || elapsed > 1.2 {
+		t.Fatalf("bad: %f\n\n%s", elapsed, ui.ErrorWriter.String())
+	}
+
+}
+
 func TestApply_configInvalid(t *testing.T) {
 	p := testProvider()
 	ui := new(cli.MockUi)
diff --git a/command/command_test.go b/command/command_test.go
index 2544cf531..2b9f93dd1 100644
--- a/command/command_test.go
+++ b/command/command_test.go
@@ -52,6 +52,21 @@ func testCtxConfig(p terraform.ResourceProvider) *terraform.ContextOpts {
 	}
 }
 
+func testCtxConfigWithShell(p terraform.ResourceProvider, pr terraform.ResourceProvisioner) *terraform.ContextOpts {
+	return &terraform.ContextOpts{
+		Providers: map[string]terraform.ResourceProviderFactory{
+			"test": func() (terraform.ResourceProvider, error) {
+				return p, nil
+			},
+		},
+		Provisioners: map[string]terraform.ResourceProvisionerFactory{
+			"shell": func() (terraform.ResourceProvisioner, error) {
+				return pr, nil
+			},
+		},
+	}
+}
+
 func testModule(t *testing.T, name string) *module.Tree {
 	mod, err := module.NewTreeModule("", filepath.Join(fixtureDir, name))
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/command/test-fixtures/parallelism/main.tf b/command/test-fixtures/parallelism/main.tf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7708209c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/command/test-fixtures/parallelism/main.tf
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+resource "test_instance" "foo1" {
+	ami = "bar"
+
+	// shell has been configured to sleep for one second
+	provisioner "shell" {}
+}
+
+resource "test_instance" "foo2" {
+	ami = "bar"
+
+	// shell has been configured to sleep for one second
+	provisioner "shell" {}
+}