Immigration Update: State Department Says the December 2025 Diversity Visa Pause Is No Longer in Effect
Updated: Sep 6
What the State Department's guidance page now says
On its Diversity Visa Issuance Updated Guidance page, last updated August 31, 2026, the U.S. Department of State states: "As of August 28, 2026, in accordance with the Court's order in Medani et al. v. Trump et al., the December 2025 pause of diversity visa issuance is no longer in effect."
Two dates matter here, and they are not the same one. August 28, 2026 is the date from which the Department says the pause is no longer in effect. August 31, 2026 is the date the published guidance was updated to say so. This is not a development from today. We are reporting it now, and correcting our own earlier coverage.
A correction to our September 3 article
On September 3, 2026 we published a post stating that the Department had paused all diversity visa issuance. That post did not reflect the August 31 update to the Department's guidance page. The Department's current published guidance says the December 2025 pause is no longer in effect. We regret the error and are correcting it here.
One thing to read carefully
The same guidance page still displays, below that notice, the original announcement: "Effective immediately, the Department of State has paused all visa issuances to diversity immigrant visa applicants," together with the FAQs published with it, including the answer "No. There are no exceptions to this guidance."
We read the page directly on September 6, 2026 to confirm this. The page does not contain a sentence stating that issuance has resumed. Read as a whole, the dated notice at the top of the page (August 28, 2026) is the Department's current statement, and the paragraph beneath it is the December 2025 announcement that the notice supersedes. But the page is not internally consistent, and anyone relying on it should read the page in full rather than a quotation of it, including a quotation in this article.
What applicants should know
The September 30, 2026 deadline has not moved. DV-2026 eligibility ends by statute on September 30, 2026. No agency and no court can extend it. A visa not issued by that date cannot be issued afterward under the DV-2026 program.
A pause being lifted is not the same thing as a visa being issued. The Department's notice speaks to the pause. It does not promise an issuance date in any individual case, and neither can anyone else.
This notice concerns the diversity visa program. On its own it does not change anything for family-based or employment-based immigrant visa applicants, or for any nonimmigrant category.
Save a dated copy of the guidance page today and keep it in your file. This page has been revised more than once this cycle, and a dated capture is the only reliable record of what it said and when.
If your case was refused solely because of the pause, keep every notice and document you received. Ask your post directly about the current status of your case rather than relying on news coverage or on any summary.
How we can help
Our consultants are former U.S. diplomats and consular officers who adjudicated immigrant visa cases at posts abroad. With a statutory deadline weeks away, the useful questions are practical ones: what is actually pending at your post, what a refusal notice you already hold does and does not mean, whether your documentation is complete, and what can realistically be accomplished before September 30.
We give you a straight answer about where your case stands, including when the answer is not the one you were hoping for.
Schedule a consultation
If you are a DV-2026 selectee, or you are advising someone who is, a focused conversation this month is worth more than one in October. Book a consultation with our former U.S. diplomats.
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