DC Court Dismisses DV Visa Lawsuit, Points to Class Action

A federal judge in Washington, DC dismissed a Diversity Visa lawsuit on September 24, 2026, ruling that 42 applicants cannot get individual court orders while a broader class action already covers their claims. Judge Timothy Kelly of the US District Court for the District of Columbia denied the plaintiffs' request for emergency relief and dismissed the case entirely.

Why the DV pause happened — and what courts have done

The State Department and USCIS indefinitely paused all Diversity Visa (DV) processing after a DV recipient allegedly committed a mass shooting at Brown University. That pause left tens of thousands of FY-2026 selectees in limbo. In August 2026, a federal court in California — hearing the class-action case Medani v. Trump — vacated those pauses and ordered both agencies to resume processing applications before September 30, the end of the fiscal year. The Medani court certified three subclasses covering all FY-2026 DV selectees and derivative beneficiaries affected by the pauses. It has since required the government to file tri-weekly reports on interviews held and visas issued.

Why this DC lawsuit failed

The 42 plaintiffs in the DC case — including 34 applicants living abroad and 5 already in the US seeking to adjust their status (that is, apply for a green card from inside the country) — argued the government was not moving fast enough under the Medani order. They asked the DC court to force the agencies to finish their individual cases by September 25 and provide 24-hour status updates. Judge Kelly rejected that request. He applied the "first-to-file" rule: when two federal cases involve the same parties and the same legal claims, the court that received the case first controls the outcome. Because Medani was filed a month earlier and already covers these plaintiffs as class members, the DC court said it had no authority to grant separate, faster relief. At least three other DC district courts reached the same conclusion in September 2026, dismissing identical emergency lawsuits from other Medani class members.

The court also noted a practical problem: ordering the agencies to process these 42 applicants on an accelerated schedule would push them ahead of other Medani class members — which would be unfair and contradict the class-wide relief already in place. If applicants believe the government is dragging its feet, Judge Kelly wrote, the right move is to go back to the Medani court in California — not ask a different court to second-guess that court's remedy.

What to do if you are a FY-2026 DV selectee

• Do not file a new individual lawsuit in federal court. Four courts have now dismissed these cases, and the September 30 deadline leaves no time to recover from another dismissal.
• Check whether you are a Medani class member. If you are an FY-2026 DV selectee subject to the processing pause, you almost certainly are covered by the Medani subclasses.
• Contact an immigration attorney immediately. An attorney can file a motion to enforce the Medani injunction in the Northern District of California — the only court currently with power to compel faster action.
• Track the Medani v. Trump docket (No. 26-cv-6332, N.D. Cal.) for compliance updates, since that court is actively monitoring government progress.

A full breakdown of this topic — in our guide “Appealing to the BIA”.