The US Diversity Visa lottery for fiscal year 2027 will remain suspended after a federal appeals court blocked a lower court order directing the Trump administration to reopen the program, leaving prospective applicants uncertain about when they can register for the Green Card lottery.
It temporarily suspends a California federal court order that had directed the government to restart the registration process and follow a specific timeline. The firm argued that the government’s decision was unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act. The court also clarified that its decision did not endorse the State Department’s failure to open registration .
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued an emergency stay on October 29, allowing the State Department to keep the Diversity Immigrant Visa (DV) program on hold while the government’s appeal proceeds, according to a Bloomberg Law report . Red Eagle Law, an immigration law firm representing Diversity Visa lottery selectees, filed a lawsuit in August 2026 challenging the suspension. On October 14, US District Judge Jinsook Ohta of the Southern District of California issued a preliminary injunction directing the State Department to restart the program.
“We do not endorse the Department’s failure to open the lottery registration period,” the court said, adding that Red Eagle had not demonstrated that it fell within the zone of interests protected by the law.
The decision came just hours before the department was required to announce the FY2027 lottery registration schedule.
