U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta of the Southern District of California issued a preliminary injunction on Oct. 14, 2026, requiring the Trump administration to reopen the 2027 Diversity Visa lottery after a lawsuit challenged the State Department’s delay in starting the registration process.

The order mandates that the Department of State publish the registration period by Oct. 29, with the electronic entry portal opening on Nov. 1, 2026.

Applicants will have a 30‑day window to submit eligible electronic entries, and the State Department must continue accepting applications until the fiscal‑year 2027 allocation of up to 55,000 visas is exhausted or until Sept. 30, 2027, whichever occurs first.

Selected entrants will be notified by Dec. 3, giving them time to prepare for the subsequent visa‑issuance steps.

The lawsuit was filed by Red Eagle Law, an immigration law firm that contested the State Department’s failure to initiate the registration process for the Diversity Visa program.

The court’s initial order required the State Department to announce the period by midnight Eastern time on Oct. 15 and to open registration by Oct. 18, but both parties later agreed to extend the deadline.