Immigration attorney says Green Card lottery did not resume despite court ruling and these will become invalid after September 30.
Jennifer Bade, an immigration attorney and owner of Bade Law Group, said in a LinkedIn post that the State Department had paused visa processing for two groups over the past year — Diversity Visa applicants and immigrant visa applicants from 75 countries. A federal judge on August 21 struck down the 75-country immigrant visa pause, while another federal judge on August 28 ruled against the Diversity Visa pause.
Two US visa processing pauses challenged in federal court have been struck down, but affected applicants are still waiting for their cases to move forward, according to an immigration lawyer who says there is a growing gap between the court rulings and what applicants are experiencing at US embassies and consulates. The State Department acknowledged the court rulings and said the two pauses were no longer in effect. “But here’s the problem: Acknowledging a court order and actually following it are two different things,” Bade said. Giving a picture of the reality, the attorney said that families with scheduled interviews found that their interviews were canceled with no explanation and no new date. Bade said when lawyers pushed back in court, the government used a loophole and said these interviews were not canceled but would be rescheduled.
Both pauses got challenged in federal court and both got ruled out. The State Department acknowledged the ruling but there has been no movement in reality.
“If you or a family member has a pending immigrant visa or Diversity Visa case that was affected by either pause, now is the time to follow up directly with the consulate and document everything, every email, every response, every date,” she said.