Floodgates open for immigrant invasion
Looks like the UK is having some of the same problems. I noticed they changed the title. of the story....
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Migrants: New rush to Britain begins
01/01/07
by Nick Fagge
in Sibiu, Romania
TENS of thousands of new immigrant workers will start flooding into open door Britain from today as Romania and Bulgaria join the European Union.
Bus and plane tickets have sold out as Romanian and Bulgarian workers seek to enrich themselves in the UK.
They now join a tide of low paid workers including Poles, Slovaks, Czechs, Lithuanians, Estonians, Hungarians, Latvians and Slovenians who are already here, enticed by our higher wages, health system and generous benefits.
In Bulgaria, bus operators have been forced to put on extra services for the New Year rush to Britain.
In Romania, new budget airlines have sprung up virtually overnight with new routes to cater for the thousands of migrants heading for Britain and other EU countries in the coming days.
Some of the flights to Britain cost less than £10 and bookings are solid for much of the rest of the month, we have learned.
A spokesman for Bulgarian travel agency Posoki said: "The situation about travelling to London is becoming frightening these days. There are no tickets available until January 15 for any of the airways."
He added: "One passenger just pulled out of a Bulgaria Air flight from Sofia to London Gatwick for Jan 4th.
"This is the last ticket we’ve got and I expect to sell it in minutes."
An estimated 600,000 Romanians and Bulgarians are expected to leave their homelands for the UK from today, prompting the Home Office to launch a £300,000 advertising campaign in a last minute attempt to stop them.
But the campaign is likely to be futile as Romanians and Bulgarians are free to travel to Britain and say that they are self employed. Many will simply join the thousands of illegal workers already on the black market.
Last night criticism of the Government’s hap-hazard immigration policy was growing as evidence mounted that the Home Office has done too little too late to stop a repeat of the mass arrival of Poles in 2004.
The Conservative shadow home affairs spokesman, David Davis said: "Some months ago we warned the Government that they must learn the lessons of the last wave of EU migrants and that they should introduce proper restrictions on workers from Romania and Bulgaria.
"The Government’s complacent approach belies their failure to take this situation seriously.
"This is yet more evidence that they should be addressing instead of ignoring this."
Matthew Elliott, of watchdog, the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: "If everyone boarding flights to the UK gets a job and doesn’t cost taxpayers a penny, that’s great news for Britain.
"The big worry is that a sizable number are planning to claim benefits or, even worse, commit crimes. We already have enough of those sorts in the UK and we don’t want any more.
"The potential cost to taxpayers is huge so the Government must ensure that we only accept skilled workers and honest folk."
Originally, the Home Office predicted only 13,000 would arrive each year when eight former Communist countries joined the European Union 30 months ago.
But it was a gross underestimate. The official tally of arrivals from the former Iron Curtain nations has already risen to a staggering 500,000.
The Daily Express has learned that trend is set to continue with the new arrivals from Romania and Bulgaria, putting further strain on already-stretched public services.
All flights in the first week of January 2007 with Romanian national carrier Tarom from Bucharest to London sold out of economy fare seats weeks ago.
And last night the few remaining business class seats were selling for over £500.
A Tarom spokeswoman said: "I am sorry we have nothing left. We have completely sold out. We just one seat in business class for January 2nd and I think that may have already gone."
The first flights from Romania arrive in Britain tomorrow and from Bulgaria on Wednesday but many are due to arrive today by car, train or coach.
In September the Daily Express revealed how budget airline Wizz Air was selling plane tickets to London for less than £10.
Now the few remaining seats on this new Bucharest to London-Luton service, which begin on January 15th, are selling for £180 due to the huge demand.
In the past few months new budget airlines have begun operating services in and out of Romania in readiness for the expected two and a half million strong mass migration out of the country.
Romania operator Blue Air now flies from Bucharest as well as three regional airports to more than a dozen destinations in western Europe including Paris, Brussels and Cologne with fares of less than £30 one way.
Italian operator MyAir now flies to eight destinations in Italy including Milan and Rome with tickets selling for the promotional price of just £0.05 in January. Taxes cost another £13.50.
Both companies are said to be considering opening routes from Romania to Britain.
In Bulgaria the situation is even worse. National carrier Bulgaria Air sold all it’s seats on the daily Sofia to London-Gatwick service weeks ago, as did the Bulgarian budget airline Hemus Air and Wizz Air, that also flies from the Black Sea town on Varna.
A Wizz Air spokesman said: "The next available seat for Sofia to London is on January 15th for £151. The only seat available for less than £150 is on January 22 for £133."
Such is the demand to get to Britain from Bulgaria Wizz Air is set to open another route from the city of Burgas to London-Luton in the coming weeks.
A Wizz Air spokesman added: "We have the destination on the list but it is not still clear when the first flight starts."
Bus company Balkan Horn, which runs a twice weekly service to London from Varna and Sofia, has completely sold out until January 16th.
A spokesman said: "We sold out of seats to London weeks ago. And we have had to put on extra buses from Sofia because the bus was already full when it left Varna."
There is now nothing to stop Romanians and Bulgarians coming to Britain. The two countries are now the EU’s poorest members, with wages averaging less than £200 a month.
The Home Office has bankrolled a massive advertising campaign in the two countries - with radio and TV ads and posters at airports and on hoardings outside the British Embassy, with the message; "Don’t come to Britain without a work permit."
However last night Romanians and Bulgarians told how they had made their travel plans and were looking forward to living and working in Britain.
Painter and decorator Dan Mihail Budica, 28, from Bucharest, has been caught working illegally in Britain twice. Now there is nothing to stop him coming back.
He said: "I will go to London in two weeks by plane.
"I will enter the country and I will start my job painting office buildings and shops.
"I know I am needed because the company that employs me is on the telephone to me, telling me they need me back."
Floor tiler Adrian Ungureanu, 29, from Bucharest, said:"When I travel to Britain there is a job waiting for me and I will earn more than four times the amount that I can earn here in Bucharest.
"I can work for six months and have enough to keep my family for two years."
Student Iliah Faik, 19, from Kyrzdzali, said:"In England they look for students like us to do their farm and agricultural work. I hope to get a chance to find a better job during my stay and settle in the UK. And I would like to study in England."
Atanas Dechenski, 22, from Sofia, said: "First I will find a unskilled job, than I will enroll in a British university."
* What do YOU think? Should we be opening the floodgates to Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants? Comment NOW at Have Your Say.
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