In December 2025 the government stopped issuing diversity visas and put diversity-based green-card applications on hold. For selectees of the fiscal year 2026 lottery that was more than a delay, because their eligibility ends with the fiscal year. Three federal courts have since ruled on the pauses.

Quick Facts

  • Program: up to 55,000 immigrant visas a year (8 U.S.C. §§ 1151(e), 1153(c))
  • Deadline: eligibility ends with the fiscal year, September 30, 2026 for DV-2026
  • Pauses: USCIS hold (Dec. 19, 2025); State Department refusals (Dec. 20, 2025)
  • Class relief: Medani v. Trump (N.D. Cal. Aug. 28, 2026)

Why the deadline matters

Diversity-visa selectees “remain eligible to receive such visa only through the end of the specific fiscal year for which they were selected” (8 U.S.C. § 1154(a)(1)(I)(ii)(II)). The same deadline applies to spouses and children. A selectee without a visa at midnight on September 30 loses the chance, whatever the reason for the delay.

The pauses

  • USCIS: policy memorandum PM-602-0193 of December 19, 2025 put pending diversity-visa adjustment-of-status applications on hold pending a review of screening and vetting.
  • State Department: a December 20, 2025 cable instructed consular officers to refuse all diversity-visa applications under section 221(g).
  • 75 countries: a January 14, 2026 cable instructed officers to refuse, from January 21, immigrant visas for nationals of 75 countries while public-charge procedures were reassessed.

The court orders

  • CLINIC v. Rubio (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 21, 2026): held the 75-country pause unlawful and vacated it.
  • Ivanov v. Trump (D.D.C. Aug. 25, 2026): held the USCIS and State Department diversity-visa pauses unlawful under the APA for lack of a reasoned explanation, and the 75-country pause independently unlawful. Relief was limited to the named plaintiffs and their derivatives, and the plaintiffs’ delay and mandamus claims were rejected.
  • Medani v. Trump (N.D. Cal. Aug. 28, 2026): certified a subclass of all fiscal-year-2026 diversity-visa selectees and derivatives subject to the State Department pause, vacated the pause as arbitrary and capricious, and ordered the Department to reconsider applications refused solely under it and to resume ordinary adjudication for the rest of the fiscal year. A September 10 order requires status reports every other day. The Department has instructed consulates to review those refusals and resume processing.

Individual suits by class members

Because the Medani subclass is a mandatory Rule 23(b)(2) class, judges in the District of Columbia have dismissed separate suits by its members and directed them to seek any further relief in the class case (Khimich v. Rubio, No. 26-cv-3046 (D.D.C. Sept. 9, 2026); Turkenitz Gadasi v. Rubio, No. 26-cv-2549 (D.D.C. Sept. 17, 2026)). See Class Actions Against Immigration Agencies.

Sources

Related Articles