Great Britain: restrictions for eastern European workers extended

“I can confirm that members of the A8 [accession states] will have to be working and paying tax in the UK for one year before they become eligible for the benefits” declared a Home Office spokesman. The Workers Registration Scheme was created in 2004 when the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia joined the EU and gained the right to work in the UK without a visa. Tens of thousands of workers  entered the country. This system was supposed to end at the end of April 2009 but the economic crisis and the rise in unemployment set up a new deal. Indeed, the government wants to limit the number of newcomers at a time when the labor market is unstable, and to limit immigrants’ requests for unemployment benefits.
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ed the right to work in the UK without a visa. Tens of thousands of workers entered the country. This system was supposed to end at the end of April 2009 but the economic crisis and the rise in unemployment set up a new deal. Indeed, the government wants to limit the number of newcomers at a time when the labor market is unstable, and to limit immigrants’ requests for unemployment benefits.

More immigrant jobseekers. Indeed, over 13.600 immigrants from these countries requested unemployment ben

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