Restrictions on how many Bulgarian and Romanian nationals can work in the UK have been extended until the end of 2013, the British Home Office has confirmed.

This means Bulgarian and Romanian nationals remain restricted to jobs that are either skilled or in sectors where there is a shortage of UK labor, the BBC reported.

The restrictions were first put in place in 2007 when the two countries became members of the European Union, and under European Law they cannot continue beyond the end of 2013.

UK Immigration Minister Damian Green said he had decided to extend the restrictions as he wanted to ensure migration from Bulgaria and Romania delivered economic benefits to the UK and that he did not want migration to have adverse impacts on the domestic labor force.

"Economic events of recent years have inevitably impacted upon labor market conditions in the UK but the labor market has demonstrated a high degree of resilience, particularly in terms of levels of employment, during and since the recession," Green is quoted as saying.

"However, labor market conditions, and the extent to which they are affected by migration, are very uncertain in the current economic circumstances," he added.

The BBC reminds that a report by the British Migration Advisory Committee published on 4 November had recommended the restrictions be extended, saying the UK labor market was in a state of serious disturbance and that lifting the current restrictions at this stage would risk negative impacts on the labour market.

Green said that, while migration flows from Bulgaria and Romania had been relatively low, the number of Bulgarians and Romanians resident in the UK had increased substantially since 1 January 2007.

"Removing the current restrictions would cause migration to increase and cause those who currently come to the UK for temporary purposes to seek more permanent employment in the UK," he added.

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migration Watch UK, said: "This is absolutely the right decision. With 2.5 million people unemployed, it would be absurd to open our borders yet again to more unskilled workers."

The UK's annual quota for the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme (SAWS) will continue at 21,250 places for 2012 and 2013 and the annual quota for the Sectors Based Scheme (SBS) will continue at 3,500 places for 2012 and 2013.

On October 25, 2011, the European Parliament approved a resolution urging all EU member states to allow Bulgarians and Romanians onto their labor markets by the end of 2011.

After Bulgaria and Romania were admitted into the EU in 2007, each other member state got the right to ban their citizens from its labor market for a period of up to 7 (2+3+2) years.

At present, Bulgarians are denied free access to the labor markets in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Malta, i.e. 10 out of the 27 EU member states, as well as in the EFTA countries – Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.

The list for Romanians is the same plus Spain which several months ago reintroduced restrictions on Romanian laborers because of its high domestic unemployment figures.

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