U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta ordered the State Department to open registration for the 2027 Green Card Lottery by midnight ET on November 1, 2026. The order sets deadlines for a program whose opening had been delayed.
Background: Judge Orders State Dept. to Set DV-2027 Lottery Dates by October 29
The department must publish its registration announcement by midnight ET on October 29, 2026. It must state the opening and closing dates, identify the entry website and list participation requirements.
The registration window must remain open for 30 days. Selected entrants must receive notice by midnight ET on December 3, 2026.
This is a court-ordered schedule, not an open registration period. The ruling requires the department to accept qualifying electronic entries during the window and process selected applicants under its usual procedures.
| India | China | ROW | |
|---|---|---|---|
| EB-1 | Feb 01, 2023 | Aug 01, 2023 ▲31d | Current |
| EB-2 | Nov 01, 2013 | Oct 01, 2021 | Apr 01, 2025 ▲90d |
| EB-3 | Jan 22, 2014 ▲21d | Jan 22, 2022 ▲14d | Jun 15, 2024 ▲31d |
| F-1 | Jan 22, 2021 ▲366d | Jan 22, 2021 ▲366d | Jan 22, 2021 ▲366d |
| F-2A | Oct 22, 2026 ▲30d | Oct 22, 2026 ▲30d | Oct 22, 2026 ▲30d |
A dollar fee and passport scan apply to new entries
Applicants must pay a $1 fee and hold a valid passport. The online application also requires a scan of the passport page showing personal details and signature.
The entry process runs through the department’s official online portal. The court order requires the department to identify that website in its public announcement and keep registration available throughout the 30-day period.
Country eligibility also requires checking the new instructions. Kazakhstan is among the countries whose citizens are eligible to participate, while the final list for this cycle is due with the official instructions. The prior year’s rules listed Brazil among countries whose natives were generally ineligible, subject to circumstances that could allow someone to qualify through another country. Those earlier rules do not determine eligibility for this cycle.
The injunction describes the program as allowing up to 55,000 people worldwide to apply for permanent residence. Entry, selection and receiving a visa remain separate steps.
The judge shifted the first schedule after a joint request
Ohta’s initial schedule called for registration to open by October 18 and remain available for 30 days. Under that timetable, selected entrants would have been notified by November 19.
Red Eagle Law filed a joint motion seeking a two-week extension, saying it would “to prevent any hiccups.” The judge approved the request and set the later dates.
The State Department had previously said changes to the entry process delayed its announcement of registration dates. In December 2025, it paused the program, as well as immigrant visa processing under the FY 2026 Diversity Visa program.
The department’s earlier announcement had retained October 1, 2026, through September 30, 2027, as the visa application period for DV-2027 selectees. The government argued that the delay made it impossible to run the lottery within the standard statutory timeframe.
Selection does not guarantee a visa before the fiscal-year cutoff
The injunction does not grant permanent residence, pre-approve applicants or waive program requirements. Selected applicants still must meet educational or work-experience criteria and complete mandatory screening.
The ruling directs the department to process selected applicants until available visas are issued or the fiscal year ends. The visa issuance deadline is September 30, 2027; unused visas cannot be issued after that date.
Fragomen’s legal advisory gives an earlier processing cutoff of September 20, 2027, or when the annual allocation is exhausted, whichever comes first. The injunction is preliminary, not a final judgment resolving the dispute. A stay or reversal could change its requirements with little or no notice.
The lawsuit says the delay threatened to cancel the lottery in practice
The case, Red Eagle Law, L.C. v. Rubio, is docketed as No. 3:26-cv-04738 in the Southern District of California. The case was filed Aug 19, 2026, and the orders were issued October 14, 2026, in San Diego.
Ohta ordered Secretary of State Marco Rubio to announce the registration period and distribute the information through the department’s usual public channels, including the Federal Register. The instructions must also explain how to enter and what applicants must provide.
Curtis Morrison, Red Eagle Law’s founder and owner, argued that the delay amounted to a de facto cancellation. At earlier hearings, he accused the administration of having “gaslit Red Eagle Law and potential lottery applicants by saying the Green Card Lottery was undergoing some changes and would be delayed this year.” He said the delay could let officials argue it had become too late to run the program.
After the ruling, Morrison said, “We won.” He added:
“This means that when George Herbert Walker Bush made it the law in 1990, the Trump administration can't just ignore the laws they don't like. We have judges here to make sure they follow the law. I think the judge did a really good job analyzing the arguments”
Ohta is a Joe Biden appointee. The Department of Justice did not respond to requests for comment. The department’s next court-ordered step is to publish the complete entry instructions.
