Court Decision · Decided August 28, 2026 · JBNP Law
If you won the FY-2026 diversity visa lottery and your I-485 has been sitting untouched at USCIS, a federal court has ordered the agency to start working it again. The relief is real. It is also on a very short clock.
On August 28, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued an order in Medani, et al., v. Trump, et al., No. 26-cv-6332, temporarily vacating USCIS policy memorandum PM-602-0193 — the memo that put DV-based adjustment applications on hold.
USCIS confirmed the order publicly on September 4. The agency is directed, "to the extent practicable and in good faith, to take all reasonable steps during the remainder of the Diversity Visa fiscal year to resume ordinary adjudication of plaintiffs' pending adjustment of status applications" without applying the memo.
The court also certified a subclass covering "all selectees and derivative beneficiaries under the FY-2026 Diversity Visa Program who are subject to the USCIS DV Hold imposed by Policy Memorandum PM-602-0193." This is not limited to the named plaintiffs.
USCIS's own statement says it "strongly disagrees with the Court's order but will follow its terms pending possible further judicial review."
Three things, and the third is the one that matters most.
It's temporary. The memo is temporarily vacated "pending further litigation." This is not a final judgment. USCIS has signaled it is looking at further review, and the policy could come back.
It's class-wide. If you are an FY-2026 DV selectee or a derivative whose adjustment application was held under this memo, you are inside the certified subclass. You did not need to have filed suit.
The fiscal year is the real deadline. DV numbers are use-it-or-lose-it by statute: under 8 U.S.C. § 1154(a)(1)(I)(ii)(II), selectees "shall remain eligible to receive such visa only through the end of the specific fiscal year for which they were selected." That end is September 30. A court order in late August gives USCIS roughly five weeks to actually adjudicate, and the order itself acknowledges the limit by tying the obligation to "the remainder of the Diversity Visa fiscal year" and qualifying it with "to the extent practicable."
That gap between a legal win and a green card in hand is the whole problem here. The hold is lifted; the calendar is not forgiving.
For clients with pending DV-based I-485s, we're making sure the file is genuinely ready to be approved the moment an officer picks it up — medicals current and unexpired, biometrics done, every RFE answered, nothing outstanding that gives the agency a reason to set it aside. Five weeks is not enough time to fix a paperwork problem discovered in week four.
We're also documenting the record. If FY-2026 ends with numbers unissued because of a hold a court has now vacated, the question of what relief is available afterward is a live one, and it is better litigated from a file that shows exactly what was pending, when, and what was requested.
And we're being straight with people about the odds. An order compelling USCIS to resume ordinary adjudication is not a guarantee your case gets adjudicated by September 30. If you have another path — an employment-based filing, a family petition — this is the moment to look at it seriously rather than resting the whole plan on the DV number.
If you are a DV selectee with an adjustment application in limbo, the next three weeks decide it. Book a consultation and we'll tell you what's realistic.
This post is general information, current as of when it was written — not legal advice, and no substitute for talking to an attorney about your own case. This area is changing quickly, and reading this doesn't make us your lawyers. Please get advice on your specific situation before you act.