A federal judge ordered the State Department to open registration for the Green Card Lottery 2027 by midnight Eastern time on Thursday, forcing the administration to restart a visa process it had let slip past schedule. U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta said the department must publicly announce the opening and keep the registration period running for at least 30 days.
The ruling matters now because the delay had already pushed the lottery off its normal track, and the program can only move forward if applicants are given a real chance to enter. Curtis Morrison said the court required the registration window to open by the Thursday deadline, a detail that gives the order immediate force for people hoping to seek one of the 55,000 visas tied to the program.
That 55,000-visa program was created by Congress in 1990 and is designed as a Diversity Visa lottery for eligible people from countries with low rates of U.S. immigration. Winners still have to meet immigration requirements before receiving a visa, so the registration window is only the first step, but it is the step that makes the rest of the process possible. Without it, the 2027 lottery could not move from paper to actual entries.
Red Eagle Law sued Secretary of State Marco Rubio under the Administrative Procedure Act, arguing that the department’s failure to start registration on time had caused financial harm to the firm because it represents Diversity Visa applicants. Ohta agreed that Red Eagle was likely to succeed, saying the government’s inaction had effectively suspended the program without enough explanation and amounted to arbitrary and capricious action. She also found the firm had standing and that its claimed losses could count as irreparable harm because damages could not be recovered later.
The government countered that reopening registration after the normal timetable had passed would clash with rules requiring a registration period of at least 30 days. Ohta rejected that argument and said following the timetable in those circumstances would prevent the fiscal 2027 lottery from taking place at all. On September 3, she had denied without prejudice Red Eagle’s request for a temporary restraining order, but Wednesday’s injunction changed the posture of the case and put a hard deadline on the department.
The State Department, led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, has opposed the Diversity Visa program, which gives green cards to eligible applicants from low-immigration countries. The Trump administration has also tightened several legal immigration pathways since Donald Trump began his second term. A department spokesperson said the agency is putting American interests first in its visa process under Trump and Rubio, and added that it generally does not comment on pending or ongoing litigation.
What happens next is plain enough: the department was ordered to open the registration period, process entries until all 55,000 visas are issued or the 2027 fiscal year ends, and let the lottery proceed. Whether it met the Thursday deadline is the open fact that now matters most.
