U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California (Photo from Public Domain)
The Trump administration has appealed the court order that forces the State Department to run the DV-2027 lottery, and it has asked the judge to suspend that order while the appeal moves forward, Newsweek reported on Oct. 21. The filings cast doubt on the Nov. 1 registration date that millions of hopeful entrants worldwide are waiting for, with the department due to announce the entry rules by Oct. 29.
According to Newsweek, the government filed a notice of appeal on Oct. 19 challenging the preliminary injunction and related orders issued by U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta in Red Eagle Law, L.C. v. Rubio, a Southern District of California case brought by an immigration law firm, along with a separate motion asking Ohta to stay her injunction during the appeal. Newsweek said it had sought comment from the State Department and Red Eagle Law.
The deadlines still stand for now. A notice of appeal does not pause an injunction; only a court order can. Under Rule 8 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, a party seeking a stay ordinarily must ask the trial judge first, and if Ohta says no, the government can go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Until a court acts, the schedule Ohta approved on Oct. 14 is binding: the registration period announced by Oct. 29, registration open from Nov. 1 for 30 days, and selected entrants notified by Dec. 3.
Why the DV-2027 lottery calendar matters more than the appeal
The diversity visa program runs on a clock no court can extend. By statute, a lottery selectee can receive a visa only through the end of the fiscal year for which they were selected, which for DV-2027 is Sept. 30, 2027. In a normal cycle, results arrive in early May, leaving selectees roughly 17 months to file the DS-260, gather documents, pass a medical exam and sit for an interview. Under Ohta’s schedule, they would have less than 10 months.
That makes the stay request the real contest. Even a few weeks’ pause would come straight out of processing time, and a stay lasting through a full appeal could leave too little of the fiscal year to run a meaningful program. The government would not need to win the appeal to get much of what it wants; it would only need time.
The numbers explain the stakes. The DV-2026 lottery drew 20,822,624 qualified entries, and about 129,516 people, counting selectees with their spouses and children, were registered for an annual limit the State Department put at approximately 51,850 visas. Because selection always outruns visa supply, a shorter window tends to mean more selectees who never reach an interview before the cutoff, at a time when immigrant visa issuance has already fallen sharply.
What the Ninth Circuit would weigh
Newsweek reported that the government argued below that a court cannot order a lottery to start after its registration period should already have taken place, and that the order was an improper nationwide injunction. Ohta rejected both, finding the suspension “arbitrary and capricious” and noting that the department “offered no reason” for the delay. Her ruling treated the failure to open registration before fiscal 2027 began on Oct. 1 as an effective cancellation of a program Congress requires.
The nationwide-relief point echoes the Justice Department’s push at the Supreme Court to limit universal remedies in immigration cases, though a lottery is hard to run for only some entrants, which may make that argument weaker here than elsewhere. The harder question is what happens to selectees if the lottery runs and the government later wins on appeal.
In the coming days, Ohta could deny the stay and the government seek emergency relief from the Ninth Circuit; a court could grant a stay and push back the Nov. 1 opening; or no stay could issue and registration could open on schedule while the appeal continues. Entrants should rely only on travel.state.gov and dvprogram.state.gov, where entry is free. Background is in the Oct. 14 report on Ohta’s injunction and the earlier order on processing diversity visas past the deadline.
This article is for general information and is not legal advice.
Sources
- Newsweek: 2027 Green Card Lottery Cancellation Faces Appeal (Oct. 21, 2026)
- 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. Department of State: DV-2026 Selected Entrants (entries, registrants and annual limit for DV-2026)
- 8 U.S.C. 1154(a)(1)(I)(ii)(II): diversity visa eligibility limited to the fiscal year of selection
- Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, Rule 8: Stay or Injunction Pending Appeal
About the Author
Discover more from Immigration Analytics
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
