Washington, Aug 7 - The US has resumed accepting applications for the H-2B foreign temporary worker visa after receiving far fewer petitions from US employers than anticipated.

The congressionally mandated annual cap for H-2B visas sought by semi-skilled Indian workers is 66,000, and the government has issued only 40,640 this fiscal year, which ends Sep 30.

'Because of the low visa issuance rate, (US Citizenship and Immigration Services, USCIS) is reopening the filing period to allow employers to file additional petitions for qualified H-2B temporary foreign non-agricultural workers,' the agency said in a statement.

While H-1B visas permit foreign nationals to work in the US on short-term projects as a prelude to a green card, the H-2B programme enables US employers to bring foreign nationals to the US to fill temporary non-agricultural positions for which there is a shortage of available workers.

Typically, H-2B workers fill labour needs in areas such as construction, health care, landscaping, food service and hospitality.

Normally, the number of applications for temporary work visas from US employers far outstrip the number available, but the recession has reduced demand.