British Ministers have decided to ease entry requirements for Bulgarian and Romanian citizens before Christmas, the Daily Mirror has announced.

Despite the fact that the UK is not obliged to lift the visa regime until the country joins on January 1, 2007, politicians are seriously thinking of giving Bulgarians and Romanians a nice Christmas gift by allowing them in earlier.

This would allow migrants to start looking for jobs in the UK with the coming of the new year, the paper said, adding that many MPs are against the move, worried it would make the country look lenient.

"Any indication that they are going to be more easy-going on this is not sending out a very good signal and people need to be concerned," Andrew Rosindell, a Tory MP commented. "Caution is what is needed rather than an easy-come, easy-go attitude."

Others added that the UK shouldn't rush and get ahead of the rest of the EU countries.

"There is no good reason to drop restrictions until January 1, particularly if we are in a minority in doing so," Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch UK, has said.

Bulgarians currently need a visa for any visit to the UK, even if they are only transferring flights in one of the country's airports.

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