London: In its biggest shake-up against illegal immigration in the last 40 years, Britain today announced a string of measures including imposing heavy penalties of upto 10,000 pounds on employers for each illegal worker and introduction of compulsory identity cards.

"Under a new system of civil penalties, employers who negligently hire illegal workers could face a maximum fine of 10,000 pounds for each illegal worker found at a business. If employers are found to have knowingly hired illegal workers they could incur an unlimited fine and be sent to prison", an official announcement said.

These measures, which will be effective from February next, will make it easier than ever before for employers to carry out checks and for the Border and Immigration Agency (BIA) to deal with non-compliance, it said. The civil penalties form part of the biggest immigration shake-up for forty years, sitting alongside a programme of changes that will ensure the system is fit for the future.

"By working together with employers and others we have developed a system that delivers the migrants the UK needs, but which also keeps out those that it does not," Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said. As per the new initiative, BIA will also introduce an Australian-style Points Based system to make sure only workers with the skills to benefit Britain's economy come to the UK.

A single border force bringing together the BIA, Customs and UK Visas providing a tougher, highly visible policing presence at Britain's ports and airports and Compulsory ID cards for foreign nationals allowing the authorities to know who is here and what they are entitled to are other steps to be initiated as par the measures.

Source : PTI