Judge orders State Department to open 2027 diversity visa lottery registration

Mixed · 2U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta granted a preliminary injunction on Wednesday ordering the State Department, led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, to open registration for the 2027 Diversity Visa lottery. 1 2 Mixed · 2The case was brought by Red Eagle Law, a Southern California immigration firm, which sued Rubio under the Administrative Procedure Act over the department's failure to open DV-2027 registration. The firm called the failure a "de facto cancellation" and argued it was "arbitrary, capricious, and not in accordance with law"; it said it had lost clients because much of its practice involves lottery applicants. 1 2 Mixed · 2Breitbart reports the department must announce the registration period this week, open a 30-day window for electronic entries by Oct. 18, and notify selected applicants by Nov. 19. Newsweek, citing Red Eagle Law attorney Curtis Morrison, says the order requires the department to announce and open registration by midnight Eastern time on Thursday, with the period staying open at least 30 days. The Times of India later reported that the parties sought an extension, which the court granted: the department must now announce the period by October 29, open entries by November 1 and notify selected applicants by December 3, with the original dates having been October 15, October 18 and November 19. 3 2

Mixed · 2After registration, the department must process entries and award visas until the 2027 allotment is used up or the fiscal year ends. Newsweek puts the allotment at 55,000 visas, while Breitbart describes the program as handing out up to 50,000 a year. 1 2 Centre · 2Hindustan Times and The Times of India put the annual allotment at up to 55,000 visas, as Newsweek does, and say the 2027 visa year runs to September 30, 2027, so applicants face a compressed timeline for selection and processing. 4 3 Mixed · 2Government lawyers argued the firm had waited too long and that the statutory deadline to run the program had passed, leaving the court no lawful way to order it reopened. Newsweek says the government also argued that opening a delayed registration period would conflict with regulations on the program's timing. 2 1

Centre · 2Hindustan Times and The Times of India say the State Department announced in November 2025 that it was changing the DV-2027 entry process and would announce dates later, but never opened registration. 4 3 Right · 1Breitbart notes the ruling reverses course from weeks earlier, when the same judge denied the firm's emergency request and questioned whether the court had the power to order the program restarted. 2 Right · 1Breitbart says the lottery has been in limbo since December, when Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem paused it after the Brown University shooter was found to have entered the country through the program in 2017. It adds that the department resumed issuing diversity visas in August under a separate court order, and that a second federal judge in Northern California found the department delayed processing in a related case. 2

Centre · 2Hindustan Times notes that guidance updated on August 31, 2026 said the department had paused all diversity visa issuances while reviewing screening and vetting, so the registration ruling does not confirm that visa issuance has resumed. The Times of India says the department paused issuance again after the August order, that a court found in September that the government had been slow to comply, and that DV-2026 visas had to be issued by September 30. 4 3 Centre · 1Congress created the program in 1990 to give green cards to people from countries with low rates of U.S. immigration, and winners must still meet immigration requirements. Newsweek places the case within the Trump administration's tightening of several legal immigration pathways, and describes the administration as having opposed the program. 1