The US State Department has instructed embassies and consulates to resume immigrant and Diversity Visa processing after two federal court rulings, but applicants are still reporting delays in getting interviews and visas, according to immigration attorney Jennifer Bade. The issue is urgent for DV-2026 green card lottery selectees, whose eligibility expires on September 30.
Court orders ended the two visa pauses
The State Department had imposed two separate measures affecting immigrant visa applicants.
The first, introduced in January 2026, halted immigrant visa issuance for nationals of 75 countries. A federal judge in New York vacated that policy on August 21. The State Department subsequently confirmed that the 75-country pause was no longer in effect.
The second involved the Diversity Visa programme, popularly known as the green card lottery. On August 28, a federal court in California temporarily vacated the State Department’s Diversity Visa pause and ordered the department to take reasonable steps to resume ordinary adjudication of pending cases during the remainder of the fiscal year
The State Department later issued a cable on September 10 instructing US embassies and consulates to immediately resume processing and issuance of immigrant and Diversity Visas.
Why applicants are still waiting
According to Bade, however, the formal end of the pauses has not translated into a full return to normal processing at many overseas posts.
In a September 24 LinkedIn post, Bade said families with scheduled interviews had found appointments cancelled without a new date or explanation. She said that when lawyers challenged the situation, the government described the appointments as being rescheduled rather than cancelled.
“A handful overseas have started processing again. For most applicants, there’s still no visa issued and no rescheduled interview,” Bade said.
She also pointed to the gap between a court ruling and its implementation at individual consulates. “Acknowledging a court order and actually following it are two different things,” she said.
The State Department’s September 10 instruction means the formal processing pause has ended. But the pace at which individual consular posts restore appointments and complete cases can vary.
Why September 30 is critical for green card lottery applicants
The immediate concern is for people selected under the DV-2026 programme.
The Diversity Visa programme makes immigrant visas available to eligible applicants from countries with historically lower levels of immigration to the US. Congress has authorised up to 55,000 Diversity Visas annually, although the number available for DV-2026 is lower after statutory deductions. No country can receive more than 7 per cent of the available visas in a fiscal year.
For DV-2026, the deadline is absolute. The State Department says entitlement to a Diversity Visa ends on September 30, 2026, and visas cannot be issued after that date. The entitlement also applies to eligible spouses and children accompanying or following the principal applicant.
Bade said this leaves affected applicants with very little time.
“If your visa isn’t issued by September 30, your selection expires. It cannot roll over to next year,” she said.
This is different from simply waiting for a case to be processed in the next fiscal year. A diversity visa selection is tied to the specific fiscal year in which the applicant was selected.
What affected applicants should do
For applicants whose cases were caught up in either pause, Bade advised keeping a detailed record of their communication with the relevant consulate.
Applicants should:
- Check their case status through official US government channels and the relevant embassy or consulate website.
- Follow up with the consular post about any cancelled or pending interview.
- Keep copies of emails, appointment notices and responses from the consulate.
- Seek legal advice if a case is approaching a statutory deadline and remains stalled.
The distinction between Diversity Visa cases and other immigrant visa cases is important. While the court orders require the State Department to resume processing, DV-2026 cases face the additional September 30 statutory deadline.
The State Department’s September visa bulletin itself warns that DV-2026 visa availability cannot be taken for granted and that numbers could be exhausted before September 30.
For affected applicants, therefore, the issue is no longer whether the two processing pauses formally remain in place. The question is whether their individual case can be processed and, for DV-2026 applicants, whether the visa can actually be issued before the fiscal year closes.
