Britain has unveiled a set of new regulations to stop illegal immigrations. These will come into effect on May 1, 2004.
The steps include strengthened border controls, increased enforcement activity to tackle illegal working and crack down on organised criminal networks that bring in such workers, Home Secretary David Blunkett said on Tuesday.
"Illegal working is a modern day slave trade run by organised criminals. It exploits vulnerable people, undermines fair business competition and the minimum wage, deprives the economy of tax and national insurance contributions and acts as a pull factor for illegal immigration to the UK," Blunkett said.
The British government is also reviewing the enforcement work of the Immigration Service and considering increasing the penalty for employers who flout the law.
"In the longer term I believe that ID cards will make it possible to implement a more robust process and ensure that employers comply with the law," he added.
Britain removed a record number of 65,000 immigration offenders from the country in 2002.
An official announcement said that about 1.3 million employers registered in the UK would be sent written guidance in April detailing the changes to the document requirements, ahead of the regulations coming into force.
It is a criminal offence under section 8 of the Immigration and Asylum act 1996 to employ someone who is not entitled to work or do that particular job in the UK. The penalty for this offence is currently a maximum of 5,000 pounds per employee.