2020, the election campaigns have begun

[robkelk]

For the first year ever, there were more H-1B visas ("green cards") available than were requested. There will be a second lottery to award the leftovers.

This sort of shortfall is unheard of: the H-1B visa system is usually maxed out. Perhaps America's bungled response to the coronavirus pandemic, and the ensuing travel restrictions, may have put off applicants. Or those selected could not file their petitions because their paperwork must specify the company they will work for in the US, and their specific role, and amid the economic uncertainty, those positions were scrapped, ending their H-1B journeys.

Or perhaps because President Trump threw the H-1B system into doubt late June by banning new visa holders from entering the country until the end of the year, plus or minus some caveats. Those selected in the first lottery were due to start work in the States from October, if their petitions were successful.