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Budapest: DV visas issued

Immigrant visa: Diversity visa (green card lottery) winner, and their spouse and children

Diversity visa pause has ended
Ended Aug 28, 2026

The State Department did not issue diversity visas from December 2025 until August 28, 2026, when a court order ended this pause. DV-2026 visas can only be issued until September 30, 2026, and they may run out before then.

Details

In December 2025, the State Department paused diversity visa issuance: applicants could still apply and be interviewed, but no diversity visas were issued. As of August 28, 2026, under a court order in Medani v. Trump, the State Department says the pause is no longer in effect. Its notice, updated August 31, 2026, still shows the December announcement of the pause below that statement.

Eligibility for a DV-2026 visa ends on September 30, 2026, the end of the fiscal year, and visas may run out before then.

Sources: State Department: Diversity Visa Issuance Updated Guidance; State Department: Update on Diversity Visa (DV) Program 2026; BAL Immigration News: State Department update on diversity visa issuance pause.

Last checked Sep 25, 2026.

Interview scheduling at Budapest

Diversity visas are not covered by State’s scheduling tool.

From Mar 2025 to Feb 2026, Budapest issued 28 DV visas, about 2 a month, compared with 40 in the 12 months before.

This counts visas issued, which shows how busy the post is, not how long you will wait. The State Department data here ends in February 2026, so it cannot show what has changed since then, such as pauses that started or ended later.

Visas issued per month
051015202420252026
Source: the U.S. Department of State’s monthly immigrant visa issuance statistics.
The monthly counts are stored in JSON lines files on GitHub.