U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta ordered the State Department to open green card lottery 2027 registration by midnight Eastern time on Thursday, after the Trump administration failed to begin the process on schedule. The registration period must stay open for at least 30 days, giving prospective applicants a new filing window for the 2027 Diversity Visa lottery.
The order requires the State Department to publicly announce the registration and keep processing entries until all 55,000 visas are issued or the 2027 fiscal year ends. For people hoping to enter, the immediate change is simple: once the department opens the process, they will have a defined period to submit an entry instead of waiting for a delay to clear.
Jinsook Ohta and the State Department
Ohta granted the preliminary injunction on Wednesday and said the State Department, led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, must establish a registration period for the fiscal year 2027 program. The judge found that the administration's failure to open registration had effectively suspended the Diversity Visa program without sufficient explanation and amounted to arbitrary and capricious government action under the Administrative Procedure Act.
The Diversity Visa program was created by Congress in 1990 and offers green cards to eligible people from countries with low rates of U.S. immigration. Winners still have to meet immigration requirements to receive a visa, so the registration opening is only the first step in a longer process.
Red Eagle Law under the Administrative Procedure Act
Red Eagle Law sued Rubio under the Administrative Procedure Act over the State Department's failure to open registration. Ohta found that Red Eagle had standing and that its claimed economic losses could count as irreparable harm because the firm could not recover damages later, a finding that helped justify the injunction.
On September 3, Ohta denied without prejudice Red Eagle Law's request for a temporary restraining order. She later rejected the government's argument that a delayed registration period would conflict with federal rules requiring the period to last at least 30 days, which left the department with a narrow deadline and little room to delay further.
Thursday for the 2027 Diversity Visa
The practical consequence for applicants is the deadline itself: the State Department has until midnight Eastern time on Thursday to publicly announce and open registration, then must keep the window open for at least 30 days. A State Department spokesperson said, “Under the leadership of President Donald J. Trump and Secretary Rubio, the Department of State is putting American interests first in our visa process.”
Whether the State Department will comply by midnight Thursday and how it will administer the delayed registration period now defines the next step for the 2027 Diversity Visa lottery. The department must either open the filing window on time or face a court order that has already ruled the missed schedule cannot block the program.
