UK’s Migration Watch does not expect a “sudden rush” of Bulgarians and Romanians to the country now that labor market restrictions have been lifted.

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of the organization, has told the BBC that he expects a steady flow of immigrants from the two Balkan states.

He stated that while it is true "there are nearly a million, mainly Romanians [but also Bulgarians], in Spain and Italy", these people would be "better off financially" were they to live in Britain.

Green claimed hat this was particularly true for families, who could benefit up to six times as much in Britain.

On January 1, Romanians and Bulgarians received the right to work freely in all EU member states, seven years after joining the bloc.

Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Spain and the UK will no longer be allowed to bar citizens from the two countries from coming to work.

At the end of the year UK PM David Cameron's cabinet announced a crackdown on so-called "benefit tourism", citing fears over mass immigration from Bulgaria and Romania.