Selected entrants are due to receive notice by December 3, 2026, leaving less than ten months before visas must be issued by September 30, 2027. The State Department may act earlier, and visa numbers could run out first. These dates reflect the court schedule as of October 2026.
| Form/category | Office or service center | Current time | As of date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registration details announcement for DV-2027 | State Department | October 29, 2026, at midnight EST | October 2026 |
| Registration opens | State Department | November 1, 2026, at midnight EST | October 2026 |
| Selected entrants receive notice | State Department | December 3, 2026, at midnight EST | October 2026 |
| Last day a visa can be issued | State Department | September 30, 2027 | October 2026 |
The revised dates leave selected entrants less than ten months between notice and the end of the visa year. The court order requires the department to move the opening and notification dates, but it does not move the last day visas can be issued.
The announced dates set outside limits, not promises that the department will wait until each deadline. It can act earlier. The calendar also does not guarantee a visa: applicants still need a complete case, available visa numbers and an interview.
The two-week court delay comes out of the same fixed visa year
U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta amended her preliminary injunction on October 14, 2026, after the government and Red Eagle Law jointly asked her to revise it. The amendment, at Docket Entry 23, pushed the registration announcement, opening and notification dates back by two weeks.
The underlying case, Red Eagle Law, L.C. v. Rubio, No. 3:26-cv-04738-JO-VET, challenges the State Department's failure to start registration for the fiscal year. Ohta had ordered the department to proceed, then changed the schedule hours later on the same day. The order did not explain why the parties sought more time.
The registration period must remain open for 30 days. By the announcement deadline, the department is to identify the opening and closing dates, the entry website and the participation rules. That includes publishing the eligible-country list and documentation requirements. As of mid-October, the list and instructions had not appeared, including information about eligibility for people born in Türkiye.
The revised schedule shortens the period available after selection. The fiscal year began October 1, 2026, and the September 30, 2027 cutoff is fixed by law. The court order cannot extend it. That court delay reduces the time entrants have to file forms, collect records and complete screening.
Selectees must finish every step before the fiscal year closes
A selected entrant must submit the DS-260 immigrant visa application, gather civil documents, complete a medical exam and attend a consular interview. Selection only opens the door to applying. It does not reserve a visa number or establish eligibility.
The State Department's instructions say selectees must receive visas before the fiscal-year cutoff. Available numbers could run out sooner, and a case can turn on its rank number, visa availability, complete forms and records, interview capacity and the applicant's admissibility.
Applicants may also pursue adjustment of status if eligible, but the same fiscal-year deadline applies. The court order directs the department to process selected entrants until the available visas run out or the fiscal year ends, whichever happens first.
The statutory deadline applies whether the delay occurred before registration or during processing. The calendar therefore leaves little room for an incomplete application or a delayed interview.
The lawsuit followed months without a registration date
The State Department announced on November 5, 2025, that it was making changes to the lottery registration process. It said it would provide the opening date “as soon as practicable,” but no date followed. Fiscal year 2027 began without registration opening.
In a normal cycle, registration would have run in October and November 2025, results would have been posted in May 2026, and interviews would have started in October. Instead, the department had made no selections by the time the court intervened, an interruption after more than three decades of annual lottery rounds.
Red Eagle Law filed suit on August 19, 2026. The firm argued the department had a legal duty to open registration and that failing to do so violated the Administrative Procedure Act. The government argued that the statutory timing made it too late to hold the round. Ohta did not accept that argument when she issued the preliminary injunction.
Ohta had denied an earlier request for a temporary restraining order on September 3, 2026. That request sought to force the drawing, and she said most of the ship had already sailed. The broader preliminary-injunction request remained pending until October.
The injunction requires the administration to resume the program, but it does not finally resolve every issue in the lawsuit. As of October 15, the docket showed no request to stay the order and no appeal notice. The government could still seek either.
DV visa issuance resumed after the December 2025 pause
The State Department's Diversity Visa Issuance Updated Guidance page, updated August 31, 2026, says that as of August 28, 2026, under the court’s order in Medani et al. v. Trump et al., the December 2025 pause of diversity visa issuance is no longer in effect. The department said no diversity or other visas had been revoked.
No new issuance pause has been announced since. For DV-2027 selectees, the binding limit is the calendar: every case must be finished by September 30, 2027.
The December 2025 pause was tied to a review of screening and vetting in the program. The department cited concerns after a shooting at Brown University and the killing of an MIT professor, which it said were suspected to have been committed by a person admitted through the program.
The pause began amid the administration's response to those shootings. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced in December 2025 that USCIS had been directed to pause the program after authorities linked a suspect to a green card obtained through the lottery in 2017.
Applicants can track the official dates and prepare for screening
The diversity program makes up to 55,000 immigrant visas available annually, subject to statutory adjustments. Congress authorized it under Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act for people from countries with historically low immigration rates to the United States.
Applicants generally must have been born in an eligible country, subject to exceptions, and meet an education or work requirement. They need either a qualifying high school education or two years of qualifying work experience. Entry costs a non-refundable $1 government fee, most entrants must upload a scan of a valid passport, and entries must be submitted electronically during the official registration period.
- Check the State Department's instructions and announcements on travel.state.gov.
- Use dvprogram.state.gov for the official entry process once registration opens.
- Treat claims that registration is already open, or that anyone can guarantee selection, with caution.
As of October 16, 2026, the entry website was not open. Until the department publishes the instructions, applicants cannot submit an entry. Unofficial agents cannot improve a person's odds, and entrants should be wary of messages claiming they have won before official results are released.
The next lottery year also has no announced dates
The State Department had not announced registration dates for DV-2028. Registration in a usual cycle would open in early October, but no dates had been set. During the court case, the possibility of skipping the delayed round and moving directly to DV-2028 was raised.
The department had not announced whether it would appeal or seek a stay as of October 16. Its next published registration instructions will determine when entrants can begin, while any court action could affect the schedule again.
