A three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday blocked an order that required the Trump administration to reopen the Diversity Visa lottery. The temporary block means the Diversity Visa program, which is also known as the Green Card lottery, will not open by November 1. The order came as the government requested an injunction staying the previous order, under which the program would have opened. This is another legal setback for the Diversity Visa Program 2027 but Red Eagle Law, the immigration law firm that filed the lawsuit against Secretary of Marco Rubio in August, said they would move forward with other litigation to challenge the State Department’s failure to carry out the DV program.
Timeline of what exactly happened
December 2025: The Trump administration paused the Diversity Visa programAugust 2026: The State Department announced another pause on issuing diversity visas, following a court order that had ended the earlier pause.August 2026: Immigration law firm Red Eagle Law sued the government over its failure to open DV-2027 registration.October 2026: A federal district judge ordered the State Department to reopen DV-2027 registration.October 2026: The Trump administration appealed the ruling and sought to suspend the order.October 2026: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted the government’s request to temporarily suspend the lower court’s order.The stay is a temporary one on the ground that the law firm did not have the legal right to bring the challenge. People who would be affected should approach the court as the Green Card lottery was created to encourage immigration from countries with low US immigration rates, not to generate business for immigration law firms. The judges also pointed out that the firm had not brought the case on behalf of any prospective lottery applicants.
Who will be affected?
- Those who were waiting for the registration to open on November 1.
- India is not an eligible country for the Green Card lottery, as India’s rate of US immigration is high. So Indians do not come under this.
What happens next?
- The State Department is not required to open DV-2027 registration by November 1 because the appeals court has stayed that requirement.
- The appeal against the district court’s preliminary injunction is still pending.
- The future of the 2027 registration process remains uncertain.
Does US want to stop Diversity Visa program?
Diversity Visa program admits 55,000 immigrants to the US annually from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the US. The State Department said it was pausing the program as it was undertaking a review of the screening and vetting protocols.“The Department of State is committed to ensuring that its visa process upholds the highest standards for US national security and public safety. This action is being taken in light of concerns raised by the shooting at Brown University and killing of an MIT professor suspected to have been committed by an individual admitted to the United States through the DV program. This pause will allow the Department to undertake a review of the screening and vetting protocols in the DV program. This review will address any vulnerabilities in the process to ensure the Department can adequately establish the identity of aliens who are selected through the DV entry lottery, establish the applicants’ visa eligibility, and ensure that they do not present a threat to national security or public safety,” the State Department said.The department said they may conduct interviews but no Diversity Visa was being issued.
