Trump Administration Files Appeal to Reopen 2027 Diversity Visa Lottery

The Trump administration filed a notice of appeal on October 19, 2026, challenging a federal judge’s order requiring the State Department to reopen registration for the 2027 Diversity Visa lottery. The ruling covers the registration process, not the separate halt on issuing diversity visas.

The government also asked U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta to pause her injunction while the appellate case proceeds. The motion seeks to keep the program in its current position during review.

Ohta issued the preliminary injunction on October 14 in Red Eagle Law, L.C. v. Rubio, Docket No. 3:26-cv-04738, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. The case was filed August 19, 2026.

The State Department had not announced a new registration timeline as of the research dates. The order’s timetable remains the immediate point of dispute.

The injunction sets registration dates but does not guarantee visas

A second order, also dated October 14, revised the original deadlines and gave the department more time. The parties agreed to the amended schedule, which the court approved. Every deadline falls at midnight ET.

The public notice must give the registration period’s opening and closing dates, the entry website and participation requirements. The department must accept electronic entries from people who satisfy the eligibility and documentation rules.

The order also directs the department to process submitted fiscal year 2027 diversity-visa applications under its usual procedures until the yearly allocation runs out or September 20, 2027, whichever comes first. Selection does not itself grant a visa or permanent residence. Applicants still must satisfy education or work-experience requirements and pass immigration and security screening.

Ohta rejected the government’s timing and scope objections

The government argued that the court could not require a lottery after its usual registration window had passed. It also argued that reopening the program would improperly impose a nationwide injunction. Ohta rejected both points, finding a late registration period could still fulfill Congress’ requirement that the program operate.

The judge found Red Eagle Law likely to succeed because the department had not adequately explained why a temporary delay became an indefinite suspension. She also concluded the firm faced lost clients and revenue that a lawsuit could not recover, while restarting registration would not unfairly burden the government and would serve the public interest.

Ohta described the agency’s explanation as “arbitrary and capricious.” She wrote: “The State Department also offered no reason as to why the temporary postponement announced in November 2025 turned into an indefinite suspension extending into the start of fiscal year 2027”.

Red Eagle Law founder and owner Curtis Morrison welcomed the injunction. “We won,” he said. Morrison invoked George Herbert Walker Bush, who signed the program into law in 1990, and argued the administration could not disregard a law it opposed. In earlier hearings, he accused the department of “gaslit” tactics, saying its references to changes and delays could help the government argue that reopening had become too late.

A separate pause still bars visa issuance

The injunction does not lift the distinct suspension on issuing diversity visas. The State Department first announced in November 2025 that it was modifying the DV-2027 entry process and would set a start date “as soon as practicable.” Registration remained unopened after fiscal year 2027 began on October 1, 2026.

The department paused the fiscal year 2027 program in December 2025. The suspension followed a deadly shooting at Brown University and the killing of an MIT professor. A Portuguese citizen who had obtained a visa through the lottery was suspected of killing four people in shootings in Rhode Island and Massachusetts; he was later found dead after suicide.

A federal court order ended the original issuance suspension on August 28, 2026. The State Department immediately imposed a new pause, citing a review of screening and vetting. As of August 31, applicants could still submit visa applications and attend interviews, but the department was issuing no diversity visas and allowed no exceptions.

The injunction therefore addresses registration and processing, not the separate bar on visa issuance. The program’s processing instruction sets September 20, 2027, as the court-ordered end date; some accounts have described September 30, 2027, but that is not the date stated in the amended order.

The lottery draws millions of entries, but selection is only a first step

Congress created the Diversity Visa program in 1990 under the Immigration and Nationality Act. It makes up to 55,000 visas available each year to nationals of countries with historically low immigration rates to the United States. A large share of beneficiaries come from African countries.

The last completed registration cycle, for fiscal year 2026, received 20,822,624 qualified entries. Legislative deductions left approximately 51,850 visas available that year. President Donald Trump has opposed the program since his first term.

The State Department added a passport requirement in a rule issued in March, and instructions are expected to include a $1 fee and a valid passport. The DV-2027 eligibility list and final instructions remain important: as of October 15, 2026, the department’s instructions page still displayed DV-2026 rules.

This article provides general information and is not legal advice. Consult a qualified immigration attorney about your specific case.