Every year, millions of people pin their American hopes on the Diversity Visa program — the "green card lottery." If you are one of them, 2026 requires your attention, because the program is not operating normally. Here is exactly where things stand, based on the State Department's own announcements, and what realistic alternatives look like.
All facts below are current as of July 21, 2026 and cite the U.S. Department of State's official notices. Program status can change — check travel.state.gov for the latest before acting.
The lottery is paused: no diversity visas are being issued
In guidance last updated December 23, 2025, the Department of State announced — in its own words — that "effective immediately, the Department of State has paused all visa issuances to diversity immigrant visa applicants" (official notice).
The same notice explains what the pause does and does not do:
- Applications and interviews continue. DV applicants "may submit visa applications and attend interviews, and the Department will continue to schedule applicants for appointments" — but no diversity visas will be issued while the pause lasts.
- There are no exceptions. Asked whether any exist, the Department's answer is one word: "No."
- Already-issued visas are not affected. "No diversity or other visas have been revoked as part of this guidance."
- Why: the Department is reviewing the program's screening and vetting protocols in light of security concerns, to ensure it "can adequately establish the identity of aliens who are selected through the DV entry lottery."
Why the pause is so consequential: the September 30 deadline
Diversity visas are use-it-or-lose-it within a single fiscal year. The State Department's DV-2026 program update puts it plainly: "under U.S. law, eligibility to apply for a Diversity Immigrant Visa extends through the end of the fiscal year (September 30)."
For DV-2026 selectees, that means the window in which a paused visa could still be issued closes on September 30, 2026 — the law gives the Department no authority to extend it. Selectees in this position should be following the official notices closely and considering, with counsel, whether any other immigration path is available to them.
DV-2027: registration has not been announced
If you are waiting to enter the next lottery, know that the usual calendar is not in effect. In a notice dated November 5, 2025, the Department said it "will announce the start date for the DV-2027 registration period as soon as practicable," along with the date that selection results would become available (official notice). The same notice confirms that the DV-2027 visa application period — for anyone ultimately selected — would remain October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027.
As of this writing, no official start date for DV-2027 registration has been announced. Be careful: unofficial websites confidently publish "lottery dates" every year. The only authoritative sources are travel.state.gov and the official entry portal, dvprogram.state.gov — entry is free when it operates, and no service can improve your odds.
The part many sites won't tell you: Brazilians were never eligible
Even in normal years, the lottery excludes natives of countries with high recent immigration to the United States. The rule, as the State Department states it: natives of a country are ineligible when "more than 50,000 [of that country's] natives immigrated to the United States in the previous five-year period" (DV-2026 update).
Brazil is on that exclusion list — see the country eligibility list in the official DV program instructions (the list begins on page 30 of the DV-2026 instructions, per USAGov). So for Brazilians, the lottery was closed long before the pause: a Brazilian-born applicant cannot enter at all, regardless of where they live now, unless they qualify through a spouse's or parent's country of birth.
If you were born in Brazil and the lottery was your plan, the pause changes nothing for you — and that is actually useful clarity, because the paths that do work for Brazilians are stronger than a 1-in-many-millions draw.
What works instead
The lottery was always the least reliable road to a green card. The categories below are how our Brazilian and international clients actually get there:
- Family-based immigration. Marriage to a U.S. citizen remains the most direct route for those who qualify — see our guides on how to legally marry a U.S. citizen and the marriage green-card interview, or our family-based practice overview.
- EB-2 with a National Interest Waiver (NIW). A self-petition for professionals whose work benefits the United States — no employer or lottery required. Brazilians are consistently among the leading NIW nationalities. Start with our EB-2 NIW overview and niche guides like EB-2 NIW for physicians and EB-2 NIW for pilots.
- Employment and investor visas. H-1B, L-1, O-1 and E-2 routes each fit specific profiles — see temporary visas and investment visas.
The right category depends on your profile, and choosing well the first time matters far more than entering every lottery. If you want a professional read on your options, schedule a consultation — we will tell you honestly which paths fit and which don't.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Diversity Visa program status is under active review by the U.S. government and may have changed since the date above.