A temporary slowdown in U.S. immigrant visa processing could carry unusually high stakes for winners of the 2026 Diversity Visa lottery, who have only weeks left to obtain their visas before their eligibility expires permanently.
The State Department has temporarily paused or rescheduled immigrant visa appointments while consular officers worldwide receive additional training on determining whether applicants are likely to become dependent on public benefits. A State Department official told the Associated Press that the interruption began in early August and is not expected to extend beyond early or mid-September. Interviews affected by the pause are expected to be moved to September, October or November.
For most immigrant visa applicants, that could mean a lengthy inconvenience. For some Diversity Visa, or DV, applicants, however, a delay beyond September could effectively end their opportunity to immigrate through the 2026 lottery.
The State Department’s September Visa Bulletin states that eligibility for DV-2026 ends on Sept. 30 and that visas cannot be issued afterward. “DV visa availability through the very end of FY-2026 cannot be taken for granted,” the department warns, noting that available visa numbers could also run out before the deadline.
There is no rollover into the following fiscal year. A person selected for DV-2026 who fails to obtain the visa by Sept. 30 loses the benefit of that selection, as do spouses and children seeking visas through the principal applicant.
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The broader interview disruption comes on top of another problem for lottery winners. The State Department separately suspended the actual issuance of Diversity Visas in December 2025 while reviewing security-screening procedures. Under that policy, applicants could continue applying and attending interviews, but the department explicitly stated that “no DVs will be issued.”
The State Department has not publicly specified how the new worldwide appointment adjustments will be applied to every Diversity Visa case. But the calendar leaves little room for further delays. If a DV-2026 applicant who still needs an interview is rescheduled beyond Sept. 30, the appointment would come after that applicant’s statutory eligibility has expired.
Federal judge calls Diversity Visa freeze unlawful
The approaching deadline has also become central to litigation challenging the administration’s months-long suspension of the Diversity Visa program.
On Aug. 25, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled that the State Department’s Diversity Visa issuance pause and a related USCIS processing pause were unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act.
“The stakes are unusually time-sensitive,” Leon wrote, describing Sept. 30 as an “unforgiving deadline” after which selectees who have not received visas lose their eligibility.
Leon found that the government had identified legitimate national-security interests in reviewing how Diversity Visa applicants are screened, but said the agencies had failed to provide a sufficient explanation for imposing sweeping categorical pauses.
The decision, however, does not automatically reopen the program for every DV-2026 winner. Leon limited the injunction to the named plaintiffs and their derivative beneficiaries, ordering the State Department to take reasonable steps, where practicable, to reconsider applications that had been refused solely because of the challenged pauses.
The litigation has highlighted the unusual position of lottery winners who can meet every immigration requirement and still lose their opportunity simply because the fiscal year ends. In April, attorney Curtis Morrison, who represents Diversity Visa plaintiffs, told Axios that applicants had continued paying required expenses despite the government’s refusal to issue visas.
“They’re not issuing the visas, but they are taking their money,” Morrison said.
The State Department has maintained that the original DV suspension was imposed to allow officials to review screening and vetting procedures following concerns about national security and public safety. The current worldwide immigrant visa interruption has a different stated purpose: training consular officers to apply tougher public-charge screening consistently.
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