Britons living in Bulgaria. Guide to Bulgaria, Sofia and Varna

As dole queues expand, 5000 additional migrants are known effort visas - Letters on Sunday

As dole queues produce, 5000 additional migrants are known labor visas - Letters on Sunday Home Office officials say immigrant agricultural workers are needed to fill gaps in the unskilled labour market which have left farmers struggling to harvest crops. But critics demanded to know why unemployed Britons can not be persuaded to provide the manpower instead of languishing at home on benefits. People queue outside the British Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria, for visa applications. Self-employed or skilled workers must have job offers to be able to come to Britain from those countries. But a limited number of six-month work permits are issued for low-skilled labourers to pick crops, under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme. This is to be expanded next year from 16,500 workers to 21,250. The Home Office decision follows recommendations from the Migration Advisory Committee, based on evidence from the farming industry. Sir Andrew Green, chairman of the MigrationWatch think-tank, said: 'It is a pity there are not stronger incentives for unemployed British workers to do the agricultural work. The Migration Advisory Committee urged the Home Office to keep the other restrictions in place, to avoid another huge influx. When eight other eastern European states joined the EU five years ago the Government opted to allow a free-for-all, with open access to the UK jobs market. That decision led to an unprecedented influx of more than a million workers from Poland and other countries - making a nonsense of the Government's prediction that only 13,000 a year will arrive and putting a massive strain on local services in many areas. Ministers accepted the MAC recommendation that existing curbs on Romanian and Bulgarian workers should stay for now, although EU rules mean they must be scrapped completely by 2014. Committee chairman Professor David Metcalf said the curbs must stay to protect British jobs during the recession. There are around 67,000 Romanian and Bulgarian workers in Britain, according to recent figures. But the countries have a combined population of 30million, high unemployment and some of the lowest wages in the EU, raising the prospect of another massive influx here when the restrictions are lifted. Might it not be more useful to pay a higher salary, so the gap between unemployment benefit and income is such that UK people can afford to travel to do the work and keep the work and pay in the UK? It is a crazy system for people here to say unemployment pay is better than employed pay... Rachel and partner Vincent find time for fun before finalLarking around on the escalators they can have been two teenagers enjoying their lunch breakFeeling the pinch? Partying Pixie Geldof ditches the limousine for a rickshawHow many scantily-clad socialites can you cram into a rickshaw?What credit crunch?