Immigrants may pay £500 to enter Britain

Immigrants could be forced to pay £500 to come to Britain in a cash-raising drive by Home Secretary David Blunkett.

The charge would be levied on anyone applying to work, study or join their family in the UK, under Government proposals to be debated by MPs next week.

Ministers hope the fee would raise £450 million a year for the Treasury. But the scale of the demand is certain to be resisted by the families of the 900,000 migrants who enter Britain each year - and by some MPs.

Provision to introduce a charge is included in the smallprint of the Immigration and Asylum Bill, which will be debated by MPs next week.

But the £500 figure, far higher than expected, was slipped out in an unannounced Home Office technical assessment.

The document said the main reason for the charge was to raise revenue, and added: " Economic migrants benefit in many ways working in the UK, over and above a higher salary expectation. It is appropriate to pass on some of the costs of these benefits onto the migrants."

The extra demand, to be phased in, would come on top of existing fees for work or study permits. It would raise the cost of entering Britain to £625 for workers and £655 for students.

The Home Office is looking at ways to offer discounts to specialists recruited from abroad to fill skills shortages. It concedes that if the fee is set too high, it could deter potential migrants and encourage illegal entry.

Asylum-seekers would be exempt from the charge. Under international law, Britain must accept genuine refugees even if they are destitute.

The charge would raise a quarter of the £1.8 billion-ayear cost of running the immigration and asylum system.

Economists claim immigration is already a net moneyspinner for Britain, because it brings in workers who pay tax and do jobs others do not want.