U.S. Court blocks restrictions on Diversity Visa processing for African applicants

A U.S. federal court has issued a ruling to halt policies that disrupted the processing of Diversity Visa (DV) applications, providing relief to 53,939 prospective applicants from 49 African nations.

U.S. District Judge Edward Davila in California temporarily blocked several restrictions, including a hold on certain Green Card applications and a previous State Department suspension of visa issuances. Following the ruling, the State Department confirmed that the December suspension is no longer in force, allowing applicants to continue submitting documents and attending scheduled interviews ahead of the September 30 deadline.

The program's impact is heavily concentrated in Africa, with significant numbers of applicants from Egypt, Algeria, Sudan, Kenya, Morocco, Cameroon, and Ethiopia. While the court has reopened the legal path for these applicants, the State Department has announced a freeze on all DV visa issuances to conduct a review of screening procedures following a recent security incident involving a DV entrant.