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US lawmaker introduces bill to scrap Diversity Visa Lottery after court orders reinstatement
Keith Self’s legislation seeks to abolish the Diversity Visa Lottery as the Trump administration reviews screening procedures.
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US Congressman Keith Self has introduced legislation to abolish the Diversity Immigrant Visa Lottery, which offers a pathway to permanent residency for applicants from countries with historically low levels of immigration to the United States.
Self, a Republican representing Texas’s 3rd Congressional District, announced the move in a press release dated October 22. The proposal comes amid a legal dispute over the Trump administration’s suspension of the program and a court order requiring immigration authorities to resume processing certain applications.
The Diversity Visa (DV) program makes up to 55,000 immigrant visas available annually to eligible applicants from qualifying countries, according to the US State Department. Many beneficiaries come from African countries.
Self criticized the court’s intervention and argued that immigration policy should be determined by elected officials rather than judges.
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“We cannot allow activist judges to dictate our immigration policy,” Self said in the statement. He added that the program should be ended as part of the administration’s efforts to secure US borders and change immigration policy.
Bill follows court order on Diversity Visa program
The Trump administration suspended diversity visa issuances in December 2025, citing concerns about screening and vetting after a series of shootings involving a suspect who had entered the US through the program.
The State Department said the suspension was intended to allow a review of procedures used to establish applicants’ identities, determine their eligibility and assess potential national security and public safety risks.
In August 2026, a federal judge in California ordered the government to resume processing certain affected applications. The ruling in Medani et al. v. Trump et al. temporarily set aside policies that had halted diversity visa processing and directed the State Department and US Citizenship and Immigration Services to take reasonable steps to resume adjudication of eligible pending cases.
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The court order did not abolish the program. The State Department subsequently said the December 2025 pause was no longer in effect following the ruling, while also announcing a further pause on diversity visa issuances as it reviewed screening procedures.
Self’s bill seeks to repeal the program itself, rather than simply suspend visa processing. His announcement did not provide a detailed legislative timeline.
What the proposal means for applicants
The Diversity Visa Lottery provides an immigration route for people from countries that have historically sent relatively few immigrants to the US. Selection in the lottery does not guarantee a visa: applicants must meet eligibility requirements, complete the application process and clear the necessary checks.
The program has a limited annual allocation, with visas distributed across geographic regions and no single country generally permitted to receive more than 7% of the available visas in a year.
Self’s proposal is at the bill-introduction stage. It would need to advance through Congress before it could become law, and the announcement does not establish that the lottery has been repealed.
