Green Card Lottery: US Judge Orders Trump Administration To Reopen 2027 DV Programme Registration
- A US federal judge issued a preliminary injunction ordering the State Department to reopen registration for the 2027 Diversity Visa lottery
- US District Judge Jinsook Ohta issued the ruling on October 14 in the Southern District of California in the case Red Eagle Law, L.C. v. Rubio
- Registration is now scheduled to open on November 1, with selected applicants to be notified by December 3 following an approved deadline extension
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A US federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to reopen registration for the 2027 Diversity Visa lottery, commonly known as the green card lottery, with the programme set to accept entries from November 1.
US District Judge Jinsook Ohta issued the preliminary injunction on October 14 in the Southern District of California, in the case Red Eagle Law, L.C. v. Rubio.
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The ruling directs the State Department to process the lottery under its standard procedures until all available diversity visas for the fiscal year are exhausted or until September 30, 2027, whichever occurs first.
What the court order requires
Under the terms of the injunction, the State Department must publish the registration dates, the official entry website, and participation requirements through its own channels. The department is also required to notify selected applicants using its usual procedures within the court-mandated timeframe.
The original order required registration to open by October 18 and remain active for 30 days, with applicants informed of their selection by November 19. However, Red Eagle Law subsequently announced that the judge had approved a joint request to extend both deadlines by two weeks. Registration will now open on November 1, with selected entrants to be notified by December 3.
Background to the legal challenge
The State Department had previously indicated that changes to its entry process had delayed the announcement of registration dates for the 2027 lottery, without providing a specific timeline for when the programme would resume.
The court's intervention sets firm deadlines for running the programme, though it does not mean registration has already begun.
The Diversity Visa lottery is an annual programme that allocates up to 50,000 permanent residency visas to nationals from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States. It is administered by the State Department and draws millions of applicants each year from eligible countries, including several in Africa.
US grants more than 99,000 green cards
Earlier, YEN.com.gh reported that the US approved a combined 99,104 green cards across three I-485 application categories in the third quarter of fiscal year 2026.
This covers the period from April to June, according to official USCIS performance data published by Financial Express on October 13, 2026.
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Source: YEN.com.gh
