- The Ninth Circuit stayed the registration order, so applicants cannot submit DV-2027 entries now.
- The State Department has set no replacement date for the lottery’s registration period.
- The former November 1 start and December 3 notification dates are no longer active.
Checked against travel.state.gov and the State Department
The State Department asked the Ninth Circuit to restore the path to DV-2027 registration, but the appeals court stayed the order that would have opened it. Prospective entrants cannot submit an entry now, and the court has set no replacement date.
The stay took effect October 29, 2026, while the government’s appeal proceeds. The department has not announced when registration will open.
A district judge had directed the agency to start registration on November 1, 2026, for 30 days. That schedule is no longer in force.
The order also called for selectees to receive notification by December 3, 2026. That date belongs to the stayed order, not an active timetable.
The appeals court’s ruling does not finally resolve the lawsuit. The panel addressed whether Red Eagle Law could bring its claim.
The country list and qualifying rules remain cycle-dependent
The department has not published entry instructions or a country list for DV-2027. Prior-year rules can help explain the program, but they do not settle who can enter for this cycle.
| Situation | What the general rules provide | What remains unsettled |
|---|---|---|
| Country eligibility | Applicants generally must be natives of a qualifying country. The State Department excludes countries that sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States in the previous five years. | The eligible-country list for this cycle. |
| Alternate country eligibility | Some people born in an excluded country may use a spouse’s or parent’s country of birth, subject to conditions. | Whether a particular applicant qualifies under the forthcoming instructions. |
| Education or work | A high school education or equivalent, or qualifying work experience, is required. | The cycle’s complete instructions and individual eligibility determinations. |
| Passport | Entrants generally provide current passport details and a scan of the passport’s biographic and signature page. | Whether an exemption applies to a particular person. |
The latest published exclusion list was for DV-2026, not this cycle. It included Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China, including mainland and Hong Kong-born applicants, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Korea, Venezuela and Vietnam. Natives of Macau and Taiwan were eligible under that prior list. The list changes from year to year.
Country of eligibility is not simply a question of citizenship or current residence. The program generally bases it on a person’s country of birth. Someone born in an excluded country may in some cases claim a spouse’s country of birth if both spouses enter, both receive visas and travel together. A person may also be able to rely on a parent’s birth country if neither parent was born in, or legally resident in, the applicant’s birth country at the time of birth and the parent’s country is eligible. A person born in Macau derives eligibility from Portugal.
Applicants generally need a completed 12-year course of formal schooling or equivalent. The alternative is two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation with an O*NET Specific Vocational Preparation rating of 7.0 or higher. GED-type certificates and correspondence programs generally do not meet the education standard.
A passport rule published March 11, 2026, and effective April 10, 2026, requires entrants to provide valid, unexpired passport details and upload a scan of the biographic and signature page. The stated exemptions cover stateless people, nationals of communist-controlled countries who cannot obtain a passport, and people granted an individual waiver.
People already in the United States, including F-1 students, OPT or STEM OPT participants and H-1B workers, may generally enter if they meet the requirements. A person born in an excluded country may claim a spouse’s country of birth if both spouses enter, both are issued visas and they travel together.
Entry, selection and a visa are separate steps
A successful entry does not amount to a green card. Selection lets an applicant pursue a visa, but it does not guarantee that the government will issue one or admit the applicant.
Selectees must still satisfy eligibility and admissibility requirements, and the State Department sets the visa application fee at USD 330.
The State Department says the visa application period for this cycle runs from October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027, whether or not registration takes place. That processing period does not create an entry window or extend one. The court’s stay leaves the date for submitting an initial entry unresolved.
Use the official window and submit only one entry
If registration opens, prospective entrants should follow the announced instructions rather than rely on an earlier court schedule or a prior-year list. The general entry rules include:
- Submit an entry only at dvprogram.state.gov during the official registration period.
- The State Department requires payment of the $1 registration fee electronically when entering. The fee is not refundable.
- Submit only one entry for each person. Multiple entries for the same person disqualify all of them.
- Include a spouse and every unmarried child under 21, even if they do not plan to immigrate.
- Upload a compliant photograph: it must be taken within the last six months, in color, against a plain white or off-white background, with a full face and neutral expression. Eyeglasses are not allowed; the image must be a square JPEG at 600 x 600 pixels and 240 KB or smaller.
- Keep the confirmation number after submitting. Entrants use it to check results through Entrant Status Check.
The State Department has not set a new registration date.
Prospective entrants can monitor the department’s visa news page for official updates.
