No. A lawsuit filed on November 1, 2026 does not let you enter the DV lottery. The court has not ordered registration to open, and the State Department has not posted an entry date.
A lawsuit is a request. It asks a judge to do something. It is not the entry form. You still cannot submit a DV-2027 entry. No one has been selected for DV-2027, because a drawing happens only after people enter.
The older pause is explained in A court paused the order to open the DV lottery 2027. Whether any date has been announced is in When does the DV lottery 2027 open?. A photo you can prepare while you wait is in How to make a DV lottery photo while you wait.
What does the new lawsuit mean for me?
You are in the same place you were before November 1. You wait.
Think of a shop with the door locked. A customer can ask a judge to make the owner unlock the door. The request is now in a court file. The lock is still on. The sign you need is the one the State Department posts, with a start date, an end date, and the website. That sign is not up.
Do not pay a person or a website that says this lawsuit means they can enter you today. When an entry period exists, you use the site named in the official notice. In recent years that site was dvprogram.state.gov. A private site cannot file a valid DV-2027 entry before the government opens the period.
What was filed on November 1?
On November 1, 2026, Ivan Ivannikov sued the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, in federal court in Los Angeles. The case number is 2:26-cv-12783. The court is the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
The court file shows a complaint that day, plus a cover sheet and a request for a summons. A summons tells the government it has been sued. It is not an application, and it is not a confirmation number.
Newsweek reported on November 2 that it reviewed the complaint. It reported that Ivannikov asks the judge to make the State Department open registration for DV-2027 and for DV-2028. The reported request is for at least 30 days in each year, and for the Department to process people who are selected afterward. Those are requests. The court has not granted them. DV-2028 has no posted dates either.
What is a preliminary injunction?
On November 2, the file added a paper titled Preliminary Injunction.
A preliminary injunction is a fast, temporary court order, asked for before the full case is finished. It is like asking a referee to restart a game before the review ends. The paper asks for that kind of order. The court has not issued an order that grants it.
On November 3, the court added its standard opening order for a new civil case. In this courthouse, that order is the judge’s ordinary rule sheet for lawyers. It does not pick a winner, and it does not tell the State Department to take entries. The same day, the court added a text-only scheduling notice, a short note about the case calendar. Time for lawyers is not your entry period.
| Date | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| November 5, 2025 | The State Department says the DV-2027 start date will be announced later. |
| October 14, 2026 | A trial court orders DV-2027 registration to open on a set schedule. |
| October 29, 2026 | An appeals court pauses that order. November 1 is not an entry day. |
| October 30, 2026 | The appeals court keeps the lawyers’ brief dates: November 17 and December 15. |
| November 1, 2026 | A new lawsuit is filed. The paused November 1 deadline is still not an entry day. |
| November 2, 2026 | A preliminary-injunction paper is filed. It is not an order opening entry. |
| November 3, 2026 | A standard new-case order and a scheduling note. Still no entry date. |
| September 30, 2027 | End of the visa period named for people who are selected for DV-2027. |
Did the appeals court cancel the lottery?
No. On October 29, 2026, the Ninth Circuit paused the trial-court order that would have required an opening by November 1. The published order calls that pause a stay pending appeal. A stay means the earlier order does not have to be followed while the appeal goes on. The court wrote, “We do not endorse the Department’s failure to open the lottery registration period.” It still granted the pause.
The plaintiff in that case was a law firm, Red Eagle Law, not a person trying to enter. The court said the firm’s business interest was likely outside the group the diversity visa law protects. This new case is brought by a person. Whether that changes the result is not decided. It does not lift the pause, and it does not post an entry date.
On October 30, the appeals court kept the lawyers’ dates. The government’s brief is due November 17, 2026, and the answer is due December 15, 2026. Those are writing deadlines for the lawyers, not entry days.
Has the State Department posted dates?
No. The notice from November 5, 2025 still says the Department will announce the DV-2027 start date “as soon as practicable,” and will also announce when results may appear in Entrant Status Check. “As soon as practicable” means “as soon as the Department can do it.” It is not a date.
That notice says people selected for DV-2027 would have from October 1, 2026, through September 30, 2027, to apply for the visa. The visa year has started on the calendar. There are still no selectees, because there was no entry period. Being inside that year does not unlock the form.
A real opening is published in a set way. A rule effective April 10, 2026 says the Department sets an entry period of at least 30 days and gives notice of the website and the exact dates in the Federal Register. The Federal Register is the government’s public journal. It has not published a DV-2027 entry-date notice. The 2026 rule adds passport details and photo details. It does not open registration.
USCIS does not run the lottery. Its manual says one person may submit only one entry, a second entry makes every entry for that person void, and selection does not guarantee a visa. Unused visas do not carry into the next year.
What should you do now?
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Do not enter today. No DV-2027 period is posted. A site taking entries now is not the government form.
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Do not treat the lawsuit as a selection. Filing a case does not select you. There is no DV-2027 confirmation number, because there has been no entry.
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Ignore emails that say you won. USCIS warns that the State Department will not email you to say you were selected. An email, a text, or a call that asks for money to “release” a win is not the government result.
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Use the official site only after dates are posted. Read the notice for the website, the opening moment, and the closing moment. Submit one entry in your own name. Keep the confirmation number yourself. Entrant Status Check on dvprogram.state.gov is where a real result appears, after the government says results are available.
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Pay the government only, on the official site, after it opens. The 2024 instructions said the online entry had no fee. A rule effective September 16, 2025 adds a $1 registration fee, taken when you register, in addition to the $330 Diversity Visa application fee. Money paid to a helper today is not that $1.
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Read the new instructions before you file. DV-2027 instructions are not published. Country rules, passport rules, and photo numbers can change. The last full instruction set was for DV-2026.
What photo can I prepare?
You can make the file now. You cannot upload it until the form opens. DV-2027 photo rules are not published.
The rule effective April 10, 2026 asks for a color JPEG of you, of a spouse you must list, and of each unmarried child under 21 you must list. Take it within six months of the day you submit, facing the camera, on a plain light background, with no eyeglasses, and with the head covering about 50 percent of the photo. The 2024 instructions also say 600 by 600 pixels and 240 KB or smaller. Use that file size until a DV-2027 notice says otherwise. If six months pass before you submit, take a new photo.
Do not list a spouse or child who is already a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident. Leaving off an eligible dependent may make you ineligible. The size, file size, and examples pages follow the written rules.
The tool on this site exports a 600 by 600 JPEG. dvlotteryphoto.com makes one such JPEG per order, with the background corrected and the file size checked, made to those DV-2026 measurements. Order one file per person. That is not State Department approval. It does not submit an entry. It is not the $1 fee. A finished photo does not guarantee selection or a visa.
This is general information from public notices, a regulation, and court records. It is not legal advice. How this site labels records is on the editorial policy.
Questions
Does the new lawsuit open the DV lottery?
No. Ivan Ivannikov sued the Secretary of State on November 1, 2026. News reports say the complaint asks a judge to open DV-2027 and DV-2028 registration. The court has not ordered that. The State Department has not posted an entry date.
Can I enter the DV lottery on November 3, 2026?
No. No entry period is posted. November 1 was a deadline in an order that an appeals court paused on October 29, 2026. A new lawsuit does not replace a State Department announcement.
What is a preliminary injunction?
It is a fast, temporary court order, asked for before the full case is finished. A paper with that title was filed on November 2, 2026. The court has not issued an order granting it, and registration is not open.
Did the appeals court cancel the DV lottery?
No. On October 29, 2026, the Ninth Circuit paused an order that would have required DV-2027 registration to open. The court said it does not endorse leaving registration closed. The pause is about who brought that case, not a repeal of the program.
Will the government email me if I am selected?
No. USCIS says the State Department will not email you to say you were selected. There is no DV-2027 selection yet, because there has been no entry period. An email that says you won is not the government result.
Does a finished photo let me enter early?
No. A photo made to the written DV measurements is a file for a later entry. It is not approved by the State Department. It does not submit an entry, it is not the $1 fee, and it does not guarantee selection or a visa.
Sources
- U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Ivan Ivannikov v. Marco Rubio, No. 2:26-cv-12783, complaint filed November 1, 2026. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/75055397/ivan-ivannikov-v-marco-rubio/
- Newsweek, “Green card update: New lawsuit revives diversity visa lottery fight,” November 2, 2026. https://www.newsweek.com/green-card-update-new-lawsuit-revives-diversity-visa-lottery-fight-12648458
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, order granting a stay pending appeal, No. 26-6943, October 29, 2026. https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2026/10/29/26-6943.pdf
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 26-6943, order of October 30, 2026, keeping the October 20 briefing schedule. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/74994271/red-eagle-law-lc-v-rubio/
- U.S. Department of State, “Changes to Entry Period for 2027 Diversity Visa (DV) Program,” last updated November 5, 2025. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/changes-to-2027-dv-program-entry-period.html
- Visas: Enhancing Vetting and Combatting Fraud in the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, Federal Register, March 11, 2026, effective April 10, 2026. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/11/2026-04737/visas-enhancing-vetting-and-combatting-fraud-in-the-diversity-immigrant-visa-program
- Diversity Visa instructions for DV-2026, Federal Register, October 1, 2024. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/10/01/2024-22482/diversity-visa-instructions-for-dv-2026
- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Policy Manual, Volume 7, Part G, Chapter 2. https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-7-part-g-chapter-2
- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, “Common Scams,” visa-lottery section, last reviewed August 4, 2026. https://www.uscis.gov/scams-fraud-and-misconduct/avoid-scams/common-scams
- Schedule of fees for consular services, final rule effective September 16, 2025. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/09/16/2025-17851/schedule-of-fees-for-consular-services-department-of-state-and-overseas-embassies-and
DV Lottery Guide is an independent, unofficial guide and is not affiliated with the U.S. government. A photo made to the written DV requirements is not approved by the State Department. Entering the lottery does not guarantee selection or a visa.