A federal judge ordered the U.S. State Department on Wednesday to open registration for the DV Lottery 2027 by midnight Eastern time Thursday, blocking what the court found was an effective suspension of the program. The order means the department must finally announce a registration period for the visa lottery after failing to do so on its own.
U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta granted a preliminary injunction sought by Red Eagle Law after the firm sued Secretary of State Marco Rubio over the department’s failure to set a registration window. Ohta said the inaction was likely unlawful and ordered the department to publicly announce and open the process by the deadline.
The timing matters because the Diversity Visa program, sometimes called the green card lottery, can make up to 55,000 immigrant visas available each year. For people hoping to enter the fiscal 2027 round, the court order is the first clear path into a program that had been left without a registration period, meaning no applicants could be selected at all.
Ohta found that Red Eagle Law had standing to challenge the failure to act and said its interests fell within the zone of interests protected by the Immigration and Nationality Act. She also said those interests lined up with prospective lottery applicants, and concluded the firm was likely to prevail on its claim under the Administrative Procedure Act.
The ruling did not change the basic rules of the lottery. Eligible applicants from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States can still seek permanent residency only through the program’s usual eligibility and immigration process, and the State Department must process entries under those procedures once registration closes.
That processing phase will continue until the 55,000-visa limit is reached or Sept. 30, 2027, whichever comes first. But the judge said the department’s suspension and effective cancellation, if left on its current track, amounted to arbitrary and capricious government action, a finding that cuts against the Trump administration’s position even while the program remains bound by the visa cap and eligibility rules.
Ohta said the court would retain jurisdiction over the case, and she left open the possibility of modifying the deadline if the parties agree. For now, the practical test is simple: the State Department must open DV-2027 registration by Thursday night, and it must keep the window open for at least 30 days before any selection process can begin.
