Under removal jurisdiction, diversity must exist at the time of filing the original complaint and at the time of removal.

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Diversity jurisdiction for removal hinges on who is in the case at two moments. The federal court must have complete diversity not just when the lawsuit is filed in state court, but also at the moment removal to federal court is sought. That prevents last‑minute changes that would undermine jurisdiction and ensures the federal forum is truly available based on the parties’ citizenship at both points.

If diversity exists when the complaint is filed but is destroyed before removal (for example, a plaintiff and defendant end up sharing a state or a new party from the plaintiff’s state is joined), removal would fail because there isn’t complete diversity at removal. Conversely, if there’s no diversity at filing, there’s no proper basis to remove, even if conditions later change. So the requirement is that diversity must exist at the time of filing and again at the time of removal.