Judge Strikes Down Trump Administration's Diversity Visa Ban

Each year, the State Department uses a lottery system to select visa recipients from a broad array of countries that are underrepresented in the United States. In April, President Trump banned diversity visa (DV) recipients from entering the country. However, a federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to resume issuing diversity visas on September 5.

As a background, the Diversity Visa Program was enacted by Congress in 1990. The law allows up to 55,000 people to be selected, but that cap was lowered to 50,000 in 2017. Only citizens of countries with fewer than 50,000 nationals admitted to the United States in the past five years are eligible to apply. Applicants must have a high-school education or at least two years of recent qualifying work experience. Lottery winners are selected out of millions of applicants and are eligible to seek lawful permanent status after undergoing intense screening to be approved. If the applicant's visa is not issued by the