Switzerland has decided to join other European countries and tighten restrictions for job-seekers from Bulgaria and Romania after the Dutch closed the door on them.

The National Council – the lower chamber of Swiss parliament – has passed a resolution, requesting the government to undertake new measures to restrict immigration. The measures will apply to two EU member states only – Bulgaria and Romania.

Bulgarian and Romanian workers are no longer welcome to the Dutch labour market.
Starting July 1 2011, Bulgarians and Romanians as well as foreigners from outside the EU will only be granted a work permit in the Netherlands under “exceptional cases,” as the Dutch parliament is expected to back Social Affairs Minister Henk Kamp’s proposal.

“Over one million (Dutch) people aged below 65 are without work and sidelined on social benefit,” the Minister pointed out, as cited by Euractive.
The Netherlands is one of the ten EU member states that have kept job restrictions on citizens of the two countries that joined the EU in 2007, along with Belgium, Germany, Ireland, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Austria, the UK and Malta.

Bulgarian politicians have repeatedly said they do not expect all countries to lift the restrictions to their labour markets simultaneously, but their aim is to draw the public attention to the issue and pile up pressure on these countries to take this important step as early as possible.
The restrictions can be kept for another two years, until the end of 2013, if the countries present evidence to back up their claims that the Bulgarian and Romanian job-seekers are a burden for their labour markets. Source: novinite.com
In the UK many employers are unaware that despite the fact that they are EU members, when it comes to employment Bulgarian and Romanian citizens do not have the same rights as other Europeans and other A8 Accession countries.
There is an estimated half a million Romanians alone in the UK, many of whom are working as self employed contractors, which is allowed, whilst others study and work on a yellow coloured registration certificate commonly known as ‘Yellow Card’.
After 12 months of continuous legal work they can apply for residence under a so called ‘Blue Card’ registration.
Working in the UK as a genuine self employed contractor for certain industries, such as IT or the building trade, is acceptable. But the majority of employers are unwilling to deal with the practicalities of having self employed staff, for instance waiters, chefs or carers, presenting invoices every week.
There is also the issue of obtaining a National Insurance (NI) number, which by itself does not infer entitlement to work, as a self employed person.
One self employed Romanian lady told Immigration Matters that she had been refused an NI number five times despite providing all the necessary paperwork to the Glasgow based office.
Study route to Yellow and Blue Cards
Romanian and Bulgarians who study vocational or sandwich-type courses, such as QCF (which replaced NVQ’s this year) in Customer Service, IT, Catering, Hospitality, Construction or Health and Social Care, are allowed to work full time, as stated on the back of their Yellow Cards.
Employers can employ Romanian and Bulgarian workers provided they obtain a yellow card registration certificate allowing them to work in the UK whilst studying for a British qualification.
Provided they stick to the course and work legally for 12 months in line with their course, they will usually be granted a residence ‘Blue Card’ permit.
Some students, perhaps unwilling or unable to pay the fees, drop out of the course as they believe that having obtained a Yellow Card and NI Number they can continue working without further checks.
The Romanian/Bulgarian students and their employers may find themselves in breach of the immigration rules and may therefore lose their eligibility for residence or Blue Card.
As employers can be fined up to £10,000 for each illegal worker they employ, they are now looking deeper into their staff files.
Employers also have the option of applying for a work permit for a Romanian or Bulgarian worker, outside of Tier 2 Rules, provided the job meets the requirements.
TIP – HOW TO FIND APPLICATION FORMS FOR A YELLOW OR BLUE CARD REGISTRATION CERTIFICATE
If you are looking for a particular form or guidance note, try using the UKBA search facility or Google to locate it, rather than work your way through the maze of pages.
For instance, many people ask: ‘where can I find the form to apply for a Yellow Card?’
The form you are looking for is a ‘BR1’, but it is not called a ‘yellow card application’. In fact a search on the UKBA website for ‘yellow card’ will only give you a ‘No Results found for the Search term ‘yellow card’ reply. So you need to search using the correct name or a more defined search.

The full title of the BR1 form is:
‘APPLICATION FOR A REGISTRATION CERTIFICATE FOR A BULGARIAN OR ROMANIAN NATIONAL EXERCISING A TREATY RIGHT IN THE UNITED KINGDOM’
You can locate the Forms BR1, BR2, BR3, BR4, BR5, BR6, BR7 and ‘Guidance for Nationals of Bulgaria and Romania on Obtaining Permission to Work in the United Kingdom‘ at: http://www.ukba.homeoffi...lgariaromania/applying/
However, if you are reading this article in six months time it may not be at the same location or the Rules may have changed and the BR1 -7 forms may no longer be needed at all!
If you need help or advice there is also a UKBA telephone number given for the ‘Accession State customer contact centre’ which is: 0114 207 4074.
You can also seek advice from an Immigration Adviser, but make sure they are registered with the OISC, which provides a list of qualified advisers all over the UK.
sursa:http://www.immigrationmatters.co.uk/switzerland-joins-euro-block-on-bulgarian-and-romanian-workers.html