DV Lottery 2027: Judge Orders the Green Card Lottery to Open

What happened

The case, Red Eagle Law, L.C. v. Rubio, challenged the State Department’s failure to start the 2027 round of the Diversity Visa program. On Wednesday, Oct. 14, U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta sided with the plaintiffs for now by issuing a preliminary injunction. It requires the department to announce a registration period, accept qualifying entries and hold the random drawing, according to VisaVerge.

The program, better known as the green card lottery, makes up to 55,000 immigrant visas available each year, reserved for countries with historically low levels of immigration to the United States.

The 2027 round would normally have opened in the fall of 2025. Instead, on Nov. 5, 2025, the department said it was reworking parts of the entry process and would set dates later. It never did, and the new fiscal year began on Oct. 1 with no lottery at all, Immigration Analytics reports. The court treated that silence as unlawful, effectively a cancellation of a program Congress created.

The new timeline

Early coverage described a deadline of midnight Thursday. Both sides then asked for more time, and the court approved a revised schedule, as reported by VisaVerge and GoElite:

• By Oct. 29: The State Department announces the entry period, the official website and the rules.
• By Nov. 1: Registration opens and stays open for at least 30 days.
• By Dec. 3: Selected entrants are notified.
• Sept. 30, 2027: The fiscal year ends. Any visa not issued by then is gone.

The catch: an 11-month sprint

Diversity visas belong to a single fiscal year. A typical lottery cycle stretches over roughly two years from entry to interview; this one squeezes everything into about 11 months. After selection, people still have to submit forms, collect civil documents, finish medical exams and sit for a consular interview before the deadline.

Government lawyers have argued the schedule can’t realistically work, and a 2024 appeals decision, Goodluck v. Biden, rejected holding unused visa numbers past the deadline. The last rescue offers a sobering benchmark: when a court forced late processing of 2026 cases, about 2,000 visas were issued in roughly a month, Immigration Analytics notes.

The ruling also isn’t the final word. A preliminary injunction can be paused, and the government could seek that pause from Judge Ohta herself or from the Ninth Circuit appeals court. The Justice Department had not commented.

What’s different this year

USAHello says entrants should expect two changes adopted in 2025: a $1 entry fee and, for most applicants, an upload of a valid, unexpired passport. The official instructions, due by Oct. 29, will confirm the final rules and the list of eligible countries.

The core eligibility test is unchanged. You need to be from an eligible country and have either a high school education (or its equivalent) or two years of qualifying work experience.

How to avoid scams

• Enter only through dvprogram.state.gov, and only after the State Department’s announcement.
• Ignore anyone who says they can improve your chances. The drawing is random.
• Be skeptical of emails or messages saying you’ve won. Results are checked on the official site with your confirmation number, and the State Department does not notify winners by email.
• Save your confirmation number. Without it, you can’t check your status.

Quick answers

Is the DV-2027 lottery open right now?

No. As of Oct. 16, the entry site wasn’t accepting registrations. The court’s schedule requires an announcement by Oct. 29 and an opening by Nov. 1.

Does winning guarantee a green card?

No. Selection only gives you the chance to apply. Far more people are selected than there are visas, every applicant must still qualify and pass screening, and all of it has to happen by Sept. 30, 2027.

Could the dates change again?

Yes. The government can seek a stay, and the court has already moved the dates once. We’ll update this post when the official announcement is published.