More than 100 foreign nationals selected in the 2021 diversity visa lottery sued the State Department and Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the agency stopped processing applications during the COVID-19 pandemic. The appellants included both those who ultimately received visas and became lawful permanent residents, and those who never received visas despite being selected in the lottery for the 55,000 annual diversity immigrant visas awarded to natives of countries with historically low U.S. immigration rates.
Circuit Judge Michelle Childs wrote that appellants could not establish standing for their remaining claims seeking declaratory relief, nominal damages, and injunctive relief. "Past injuries alone are insufficient to establish standing," Childs explained, noting that appellants had not pleaded facts showing they were "suffering an ongoing injury or face[d] an immediate threat of injury" from how the State Department processed fiscal year 2021 diversity visas. The court also found nominal damages unavailable because the U.S. had not waived sovereign immunity under the Administrative Procedure Act.
The case began in February 2021 when appellants challenged the State Department's suspension of diversity visa processing during the pandemic. Some appellants were eventually scheduled for interviews and received visas, while others received no meaningful response even after processing resumed. The district court had previously denied preliminary injunctive relief and dismissed the complaint on mootness and standing grounds in September 2024.
The ruling reinforces the D.C. Circuit's earlier decision in Goodluck v. Biden that federal courts cannot order the State Department to process diversity visa applications beyond the end of the relevant fiscal year. The court noted that unadjudicated applications from fiscal year 2021 should not prevent appellants from applying for other types of visas in the future, though it declined to order the State Department to post notice that pending applications had expired.