Immigrants can enter Britain in 73 ways

Immigrants can enter Britain in 73 ways which will allow them to live and work in the country legally, according to a document published by the Home Office.

Immigrants can enter Britain in 73 ways which will allow them to live and work in the country legally, according to a document published by the Home Office.

Some schemes, such as those for music students and riding school pupils, allow migrants to combine studying with part-time work, ‘The Daily Telegraph’ reported.

Among the 73 are special programmes for diplomats’ household servants; sportsmen and entertainers; and employees of the Jewish Agency. Students who need to resit examinations or write up a thesis are specially provided for.

According to official statistics, among 713,000 foreigners who came to work in Britain last year, the leading nationalities were Indians (49,000), Slovakians (29,000), Pakistanis (25,000) and Australians (24,000).

A Home Office spokesman admitted that the system was ‘quite complex’. “The separate schemes are due to be replaced by 2009 with a single ‘points-based system’, which would make the controls efficient, easier to understand, and stronger.”

Under the ‘points-based system’, all applicants will be allocated to one of only five tiers: highly skilled individuals; skilled workers; low-skilled workers to fill temporary labour shortages; students; and short-term workers allowed in for “non-economic” reasons.

In fact, the publication of the list followed a bruising week for the ruling Labour Party, in which a Minister had to apologise for getting his figures wrong and town hall chiefs complained they’re struggling to cope with the influx.

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It may be mentioned that Peter Hain, the Work and

Pensions Secretary, was forced to admit last week that the number of foreign workers in Britain had risen over the past decade by 1.1 million, not 800,000 as he had earlier told MPs.