The State Department had not announced the DV-2027 registration period as Thursday’s court deadline approached. U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta ordered the department to publish the dates by midnight ET on October 29, 2026. The clock is running.
The Trump administration appealed the injunction on October 19 and separately asked Ohta to stay it while the appeal proceeds. The reported status does not establish that the stay request has been decided.
The court’s revised schedule also sets November 1 as the deadline to open registration and December 3 as the deadline to notify selected entrants. Those are deadlines imposed on the government, not confirmation that registration has opened.
The case, Red Eagle Law v. Rubio, was brought by a law firm seeking the program’s restart. The court’s order directs a late registration period and continued processing under the program’s existing legal requirements.
The injunction sets a 30-day registration period and later processing
Ohta, a U.S. District Judge in the Southern District of California, issued the preliminary injunction on October 14, 2026. She is a Joe Biden appointee. The firm filed the case on August 19, 2026, under Case No. 26-cv-4738-JO-VET, also listed as Docket No. 3:26-cv-04738.
The order requires Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the department to publish the entry dates, online submission site and participation requirements. It directs publication on the department’s visa news page and through customary public channels, including the Federal Register. The department’s visa news page is one place to check for an announcement.
Registration must remain open for “thirty days.” Entrants must meet the eligibility, petition and documentation rules in 8 U.S.C. §§ 1153 and 1154(a)(1)(I) and 22 C.F.R. § 42.33.
After registration, officials must notify eligible selectees and process applications through the department’s usual procedures and standards, subject to applicable law. Processing may continue until the FY 2027 visa allocation is exhausted or September 30, 2027, whichever comes first. The court retained authority to enforce or modify its injunction.
The original order and the later schedule set different dates:
| Court-ordered step | Original deadline | Modified deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Announce registration dates | October 15, 2026 | October 29, 2026 |
| Open electronic registration | October 18, 2026 | November 1, 2026 |
| Notify selectees | November 19, 2026 | December 3, 2026 |
The original order specified midnight EST. The modified deadlines are reported as midnight ET. A joint request extended the registration-opening and notification dates by two weeks; the announcement deadline moved to October 29.
Ohta found the suspension arbitrary and rejected the government’s objections
The department had not explained why a temporary postponement became an indefinite suspension, Ohta found. She wrote that the pause extended into the new fiscal year without an explanation for the change.
“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”
Ohta called the suspension “arbitrary and capricious.” She found the firm had shown a substantial likelihood of success and faced irreparable financial harm, including lost clients and revenue that it could not recover through the lawsuit. The judge also found that restarting the process would not impose an undue burden on the department and would serve the public interest by enforcing federal statutes.
The government argued that the court lacked authority to order a lottery after the usual registration window had passed. It also said the order amounted to an improper nationwide injunction. Ohta rejected both arguments, finding that a late entry period could still meet Congress’ requirement for the program to operate.
The administration appealed and asked the judge to put the injunction on hold
The notice of appeal contests the preliminary injunction and related orders. The administration also filed a motion asking Ohta to stay the injunction during the appeal. The reported updates do not say whether the judge has ruled on that motion.
Curtis Morrison, Red Eagle Law’s founder and owner, said he sought the joint extension to prevent hiccups. After the ruling, he said in a social media video, “We won.”
Morrison also argued the government’s failure to reopen registration amounted to a de facto cancellation. At earlier hearings, he accused officials of “gaslit” tactics, saying their statements about changes and delays were intended to run out the clock on implementation.
“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,” Morrison said. He added that judges should ensure the government follows the law. Ohta had previously denied the firm’s request for a temporary restraining order.
The program pause began before fiscal year 2027 started
In November 2025, the department said it was changing the entry process and would announce a start date later. A November 5 notice said the opening and results-checking dates would be announced in the future, while keeping October 1, 2026, through September 30, 2027, as the visa application period for selectees.
The department paused the program entirely in December 2025. No registration had begun when fiscal year 2027 started on October 1, 2026. The pause followed a Portuguese citizen who had received a lottery visa being suspected of killing four people in shootings in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The suspect later died by suicide.
In March, the administration issued a rule requiring entrants to have a passport. Prospective applicants should expect the eventual instructions to include a $1 fee and a valid passport. The program allows up to 55,000 people from countries with historically low immigration rates to apply for permanent residence each year; a large portion of beneficiaries come from African countries.
Congress created the lottery under the Immigration and Nationality Act in 1990. Selection does not itself grant a Green Card, and selectees must still satisfy other legal requirements.
Applicants must still meet visa requirements after selection
As of an October 15, 2026 check, the instructions page still displayed DV-2026 rules. The registration portal activates only at the date and time set for the relevant entry period.
Opening registration would not alter country-eligibility rules. Applicants will need to check the official instructions when issued, while the visa application period set in the November 2025 notice runs from October 1, 2026, through September 30, 2027.
