More than 400,000 east Europeans have registered to work in the U.K. since their countries joined the EU in 2004. The government estimated 26,000 would come.

Poland's 15.5 percent unemployment rate is the highest in the EU, compared with 3 percent in Britain. A full-time waitress in Poland making the minimum wage would earn £157 a month, compared with the equivalent of £853 in Britain, according to the European Commission. 100,000 Poles who have moved to London since Poland joined the European Union in 2004, the Federation of Poles in Great Britain says.

The city's welcome mat is starting to fray under the strain, even as the newcomers provide cheap labour to fuel the economy. Three-quarters of U.K. citizens want curbs on migrant workers, according to a survey by YouGov Plc. Responding to public pressure, Prime Minister Tony Blair agreed to limit immigration from Bulgaria and Romania, which will join the EU on Jan. 1.

Immigrants from the new EU states are eligible for benefits only after they register and complete 12 months of continuous work, according to the Department for Work and Pensions. The new arrivals also are pushing up rents, which rose the most in at least eight years in July, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

``It's a difficult life here,'' said Tomasz Bryjowski, 32, a builder, who arrived four years ago from Swidnica, in western Poland, and now lives in the Stratford section of east London. ``There you have time and you have friends. Here you have insecurity and you are always working.''

From: London's Polish Influx Prompts U.K. to Shut Out Next EU Wave, Brian Lysaght and Danielle Rossingh, Bloomberg, Oct. 9 2006

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