This story is from October 24, 2006

UK closes door on Romanian migrants

PTI / Oct 24, 2006, 20:10 IST

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The move announced by John Reid, Home Secretary, is designed to prevent a flood of migrants as happened after the last round of EU enlargement in 2004.

LONDON: In a shift from its open-door immigration policy, Britain on Tuesday announced its decision to close the door on a new influx of migrants from Bulgaria and Romania, imposing strict conditions on their eligibility for work permits when the two Balkan countries join the European Union in January.
The move announced by John Reid, Home Secretary, is designed to prevent a flood of migrants as happened after the last round of EU enlargement in 2004.
Since then more than a half a million migrant workers, most from Poland, have arrived in Britain, leading to resentment among the local workers.
In a written statement to the House of Commons, Reid said that while a limited number of unskilled workers will be taken on to carry out jobs like fruit-picking, the UK will not continue to operate an "open-door" policy regarding work.

"The UK will maintain controls on Romania and Bulgaria's access to jobs for a transitional period. The food processing and agriculture will be the only sectors initially open to less skilled nationals from Bulgaria and Romania," he said.
Instead, citizens from the two countries would be granted a permit to work in the UK-based on their skills in relation to a point scoring system.
A points system is due to be introduced in the UK from next year for migrants seeking work permits from countries outside the EU. A worker with more skills will be given more points and is more likely to be granted a permit.

The move is in stark contrast to the treatment of eight former communist states, including Poland, which joined the EU in 2004.
Britain was one of only three countries to allow their residents unrestricted access and the Government predicted that up to 13,000 would come to Britain each year from those countries.
According to official estimates about 600,000 of them have arrived so far.

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