Follow-Up: Federal Judge Orders State Department to Reopen Registration for the 2027 Green Card Lottery, With 55,000 Visas a Year
SAN DIEGO — U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta of the Southern District of California issued a preliminary injunction on October 14 ordering the State Department to reopen registration for the fiscal 2027 Diversity Visa lottery. The program, commonly known as the green card lottery, was created by Congress in the Immigration Act of 1990 and makes up to 55,000 immigrant visas available each year to applicants from countries with low levels of immigration to the United States.
The case was filed in July by Red Eagle Law, a Southern California immigration law firm, against Secretary of State Marco Rubio (No. 3:26-cv-04738). According to Bloomberg Law, the administration suspended the program last December after a Portuguese national who had received a visa through the program was suspected of killing four people in two shootings in Rhode Island and Massachusetts and was later found dead by suicide; in March the administration issued a rule requiring applicants to hold a passport. Red Eagle Law sued to have the program resumed; Judge Ohta had earlier denied a temporary restraining order sought by the firm.
Under the original terms of the order, the State Department was to announce the registration period by midnight Eastern time on October 15, open registration by October 18 and keep the entry window open for 30 days, notify selected applicants by November 19, and process and issue visas under its usual procedures until the 55,000 visas are exhausted or the fiscal year ends on September 30, 2027. Qazinform, citing an announcement by Red Eagle Law, reported that the judge subsequently approved a joint request by both sides extending the registration-opening and selection-notification deadlines by two weeks, to November 1 and December 3 respectively. The State Department had previously said that changes to the entry process had delayed the announcement of registration dates, and it said it would not comment on pending litigation. Curtis Morrison, founder of Red Eagle Law, said in a statement that the ruling affirms statutory immigration programs must be administered as Congress enacted them and that administrative delays cannot override the law.
(Sources: Bloomberg Law, October 14–15, 2026; Qazinform, October 15, 2026; CubaHeadlines, October 15, 2026)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：美国国务院总部哈里·杜鲁门大楼外景（华盛顿，资料照片）。美国国务院官方照片，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons / Photo: Exterior of the Harry S. Truman Building, U.S. Department of State headquarters, Washington, D.C. (file photo). Official U.S. Department of State photo, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
