[nikhizzle]

H1-B visas are used by US businesses wanting to hire non-american employees. There is an annual cap set on the number of visas (65,000 for people with bachelor's degrees, and an additional 20,000 for those with master's/phd).

This year there was an even more massive oversubscription, and the visas were allotted by lottery. Certain subcategories of visa are not subject to the cap (eg. those requested by non-profit research institutions and universities, including government labs.)