US employers submitted enough petitions to exhaust available H-2B seasonal work visas under a Congressional cap for the first half of the fiscal year, US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Thursday.

The temporary visa program allows employers to hire foreign workers for temporary non-farm jobs. It's most heavily used to fill jobs in occupations like landscaping, hospitality, and seafood processing. The visas have come under greater demand thanks to tighter labor markets across a number of industries in recent years.

The 66,000 visas allowed under the statutory cap are split between the first and second halves of the fiscal year. ...