2027 Green Card Lottery Cancellation Faces Appeal

The Trump administration has appealed a federal judge's order requiring the State Department to reopen the 2027 Diversity Visa lottery and has separately asked the judge to put the order on hold while the appeal proceeds.

U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta, of the Southern District of California, granted a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit brought by immigration law firm Red Eagle Law, L.C., ordering the department to reopen the Diversity Visa Program beginning with its lottery registration period.

The program, commonly known as the green card lottery, makes available up to 55,000 diversity visas each year to people from countries with historically low levels of immigration to the United States.

The government filed its notice of appeal on October 19, challenging Ohta's preliminary injunction and related orders. The government also filed a separate motion asking Ohta to stay her injunction while the appeal is considered.

Newsweek has contacted the State Department and Red Eagle Law for comment via email.

The department announced in November 2025 that it was making changes to the DV-2027 entry process and would announce the registration start date "as soon as practicable." But the registration period had still not opened after fiscal year 2027 began on October 1, according to the court's ruling. The judge said that amounted to an effective cancellation because people cannot apply for diversity visas without first entering the lottery.

"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 wrote. She said the absence of an explanation, including whether officials had considered people who relied upon the program, meant "the Court can only conclude that its suspension of the 2027 Diversity Visa Program was arbitrary and capricious."

Why The Judge Granted The Injunction

Ohta said Red Eagle Law had met the requirements for a preliminary injunction. She found the law firm was likely to succeed in its case because the State Department had not adequately explained why an initial delay to the 2027 lottery became an indefinite suspension.

The judge also found that Red Eagle Law would lose clients and revenue if the program remained suspended and could not recover those losses through its lawsuit. She said reopening the program would not unfairly burden the government and would serve the public interest by requiring the State Department to comply with federal law.

The government argued that the court could not order the lottery to begin after the registration period should already have taken place and that reopening the program would amount to an improper nationwide injunction. Ohta rejected those arguments, finding that a late registration period would still fulfill Congress' requirement for the program to operate.

Ohta ordered the State Department to reopen the 2027 Diversity Visa Program, beginning with lottery registration, and take the steps required to administer it.

Under amended deadlines agreed to by the parties and approved by the court, the department has until October 29 to announce the registration period and November 1 to open registration for 30 days. Selectees must be notified by December.

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Matthew Cannon and Emma Lee-Sang