When does the Green Card lottery start? The court sets a new deadline

The US Federal Court for the Southern District of California has obligated the State Department to begin accepting applications for the DV-2027 Green Card lottery no later than November 1, 2026. Registration for this program was supposed to begin in the fall of 2025, but it did not open at the scheduled time.

On October 14, Judge Jinsook Ota granted the motion filed by the law firm Red Eagle Law against US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

According to the initial ruling, the State Department was supposed to announce the registration dates by October 15 and begin accepting applications no later than October 18. It was also planned to announce the results of the selected participants by November 19. However, the parties later jointly requested to postpone the deadlines by two weeks, and the court approved this request.

According to Red Eagle Law, under the updated schedule, registration dates should be announced by October 29, application acceptance should open no later than November 1, and selected participants should be notified by December 3.

At the same time, the court's decision does not mean that the lottery has been fully and permanently restored. The Donald Trump administration may appeal the decision. However, the appeal itself does not automatically suspend the execution of the court order.

As of October 16, application acceptance has not yet begun on the official DV-2027 program website.

Why was the lottery delayed?

Registration for the DV-2027 program was supposed to begin in the fall of 2025. However, the US State Department did not announce the opening of application acceptance. In November of last year, officials stated that changes would be made to the program's participation procedures and announced that new deadlines would be released later.

In August 2026, the law firm Red Eagle Law filed a lawsuit demanding that the State Department be forced to hold the lottery. In September, although the court rejected the request for emergency measures, it continued to review the case.