On September 9, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia preliminarily enjoined the Department of State (DOS) from applying November 2020 prioritization policy guidance to diversity visa (DV) 2021 applicants and ordered DOS to undertake good-faith efforts to expeditiously process DV applications (including derivative beneficiaries) by September 30, 2021. 

The court said the order “does not prevent any embassy personnel, consular officer, or administrative processing center from prioritizing the processing, adjudication, or issuance of visas based on resource constraints, limitations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, or country conditions.”

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