As the US increases scrutiny of visa processing and applications, immigration attorney Jennifer Bade hinted that even green card lottery winners are facing difficulty obtaining the card. The green card lottery, or the Diversity Immigrant Visa programme, is a US government initiative that makes up to 55,000 permanent resident visas available each year through a computer drawing.
However, the Trump administration paused this programme after the authorities identified a suspect with a green card who was allegedly involved in the killing of an MIT professor. While the lottery itself was not cancelled, no Diversity Visa would be issued during the process.
On August 28, a federal court in California ruled against the Diversity Visa Pause, finding it unlawful. The State Department even acknowledged the court rulings and said the pause was no longer in effect. But attorneys for the applicants accused the administration of purposefully delaying the cases.
A LinkedIn post from Bade said families who had scheduled interviews found them cancelled without any explanation or new date. Even after lawyers argued against them in the court, the government said these interviews were just rescheduled.
"It took almost three more weeks for the State Department to formally instruct its embassies and consulates to resume processing. That instruction went out on September 10. Even now, most consular posts haven’t shown any real movement. A handful overseas have started processing again. For most applicants, there’s still no visa issued and no rescheduled interview,” Bade said.
This is concerning for families selected for the 2026 US Diversity Immigrant programme, as the deadline for issuing a visa is September 30. The law does not permit the person to retain the selection and carry it forward into the following year if the visa is not issued by the deadline.
Another policy enacted by the US Department of State in January suspended immigrant visa issuances for nationals from 75 specific countries, after they said nationals from the listed countries posed a higher risk of utilising public assistance programmes. However, this was also struck down in August.
“If you or a family member has a pending immigrant visa or Diversity Visa case that was affected by either pause, now is the time to follow up directly with the consulate and document everything, every email, every response, every date,” said Bade.
