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Appeals court pauses green card lottery order, DV-2027 still has no date
The Ninth Circuit has temporarily suspended a lower court order that required the State Department to open registration for the 2027 Diversity Visa lottery on Nov. 1, so applicants, including many in Türkiye, still have no start date.
Hopes that registration for the 2027 Diversity Visa (DV-2027) lottery, widely known as the green card lottery, would open on Nov. 1 have faded after a federal appeals court stepped in.
On Oct. 29, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit granted the State Department's emergency request and temporarily stayed a district court order that had forced the department to restart the program. The stay remains in place while the government's appeal is decided.
What the lower court had ordered
U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta of the Southern District of California ruled earlier this month in a lawsuit brought by the immigration law firm Red Eagle Law. She found that the State Department had turned a temporary postponement of the lottery into an indefinite suspension without explanation, calling the move "arbitrary and capricious."
Under deadlines approved by the court, the department was to announce the registration details by Oct. 29, open registration on Nov. 1 for 30 days and notify selected entrants by Dec. 3. The government filed a notice of appeal on Oct. 19, and Ohta rejected its request to pause her order on Oct. 21.
Why the appeals court paused it
The Ninth Circuit panel found that the law firm was unlikely to succeed, saying the lottery's rules are meant to promote immigration from eligible countries rather than protect a law firm's financial interests. The judges stressed that the decision is not an endorsement of the State Department's failure to open registration and does not decide whether the administration acted lawfully.
Not canceled, but no date yet
The program has not been formally canceled, but no new registration date has been announced. In November 2025 the State Department announced changes to the DV-2027 entry process, including a $1 electronic registration fee and a requirement to submit details and scans from a valid passport, and said it would set the start date "as soon as practicable." Registration had still not opened when fiscal 2027 began on Oct. 1.
The lottery offers up to 55,000 immigrant visas a year to nationals of countries with historically low immigration to the United States. Türkiye has been among the eligible countries in recent years, and the lottery is one of the most closely followed paths to a green card for Turkish applicants. Officials advise applicants to rely only on announcements from the State Department and its official dvprogram.state.gov site, and to beware of websites charging fees for "guaranteed" entries.
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