427,000 migrants since EU expansion

More than 427,000 Eastern Europeans have come to work in Britain since the expansion of the European Union, the Home Office has revealed.

The total number of immigrants who applied to the Government's worker registration scheme from the eight former Communist countries which joined the EU in May 2004 rose to 447,000 by the end of June. Of those 427,095 have been approved.

Research commissioned by the Government had previously estimated that annual applications from the so-called A8 countries would be no more than 5,000 to 13,000.

There are concerns that Romania and Bulgaria's expected accession to the EU in January will further boost immigration to Britain.

The 427,000 total does not cover self-employed workers - thought to cover a significant number of Eastern Europeans in the building trade.

Separate figures published on Tuesday which cover all foreigners showed the number of work permit holders and dependants admitted to the UK in 2005 rose 10% year on year to 137,000, and there was a 29% increase in the number of people settling in the UK to 179,210.

Home Office minister Tony McNulty said: "The latest worker registration scheme figures show that migrant workers from the accession states are benefiting the UK, by filling skills and labour gaps that cannot be met from the UK-born population.

"We are yet to take a decision as to what access Bulgarian and Romanian nationals will have to our labour market when they join the EU.

"Any decision will be based on objective factors including an evaluation of our labour market needs and the impact of the A8 accession, but also the position of other member states."

Separate asylum figures showed the number of new asylum applications fell by 15% between the first and second quarters of this year. From April to June there were 5,490 applications, excluding dependants such as spouses and children - the lowest level since the third quarter of 1993, when there were 5,280.