Court Pushes Back DV-2027 Lottery Deadlines: Registration Must Open by Nov. 1

Further to what we published yesterday, there has been a new court order in the 2027 diversity visa lottery case, and the deadlines readers were watching have moved. The State Department now has until Oct. 29 to announce the DV-2027 registration period, which is why the department’s diversity visa pages showed no update on Oct. 15.

Hours after U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta granted a preliminary injunction ordering the department to run the lottery, the government and Red Eagle Law filed a joint motion asking her to amend it (Dkt. 22). She granted the motion the same day, Oct. 14, in a one-page order (Dkt. 23) in Red Eagle Law, L.C. v. Rubio, No. 3:26-cv-04738-JO-VET, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

The new deadlines

What must happen	Original deadline	New deadline
State Department publicly announces the DV-2027 registration period	Oct. 15, 2026	Oct. 29, 2026, at midnight EST
DV-2027 registration opens	Oct. 18, 2026	Nov. 1, 2026, at midnight EST
Selected entrants are notified	Nov. 19, 2026	Dec. 3, 2026, at midnight EST
Last day a DV-2027 visa can be issued	Sept. 30, 2027	Unchanged

What stays the same

The order changes only those three dates. The rest of the injunction stands. The department must still announce the registration period’s opening and closing dates, the entry website and the participation rules, keep registration open for 30 days, and process selected entrants until the visas run out or the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, 2027.

That Sept. 30 cutoff is fixed by law, so the two-week delay comes out of the time selectees will have to file the DS-260 application, gather civil documents, get a medical exam and sit for a consular interview. With notification now due by Dec. 3, selectees will have less than ten months to finish. Selection does not guarantee a visa.

What happens next

The new dates are the latest the department can act, and it may announce the registration period sooner. The extension was a joint request, and the order does not say why more time was needed. As of Oct. 15, the court docket showed no motion to stay the injunction and no notice of appeal, though the government can still seek either.

Until the department publishes its instructions, no one can enter DV-2027. Watch the State Department’s official pages at travel.state.gov and dvprogram.state.gov, and be wary of any site or agent claiming registration is already open or offering to guarantee selection.

This article is for general information and is not legal advice.

Sources

• U.S. District Court, Southern District of California: Order Granting Joint Motion to Modify Injunction, Red Eagle Law, L.C. v. Rubio, No. 3:26-cv-04738-JO-VET, Dkt. 23 (Oct. 14, 2026)
• U.S. District Court, Southern District of California: Order Granting Motion for Preliminary Injunction, Dkt. 21, and Joint Motion to Amend/Correct, Dkt. 22 (Oct. 14, 2026)
• Immigration Analytics: Judge Orders the State Department to Open the 2027 Green Card Lottery (Oct. 14, 2026)

About the Author

Vasanth Vaidyanathan, Esq.

Administrator

Vasanth Vaidyanathan is an immigration attorney with over 20 years of experience focused exclusively on U.S. immigration and nationality law. He holds a LL.M. from California Western School of Law, San Deigo and advises individuals and businesses on employment and family-based immigration matters, including H-1B, PERM, EB categories, and adjustment of status. He has also been a featured speaker at immigration seminars across the U.S. To reach Vasanth visit: https://www.vnathan.com/

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