Home Office research originally estimated that the figure would be between 5,000 and 13,000 a year.

Barristers, circus performers and psychiatrists have all arrived in the country and found work since EU enlargement, according to Home Office figures published yesterday. The figures also indicate for the first time the extent of illegal working in Britain by people from the eight former Communist states that joined the EU in May 2004.

The Home Office estimates that about 58,000 of those who have registered to work since last May were already in the country and it assumes that they were working illegally. A total of 176,000 citizens of the eight states registered for work between last May and the end of March, with 40,000 registering in the first three months of this year alone.

The government report said that the immigrants were making very few demands on public services such as the NHS, benefits system or education. The number applying for benefits was very low, it said, with 1,200 applications for Income support, jobseeker’s Allowance or state pension credit in the first 11 months after EU expansion, only 24 of which were allowed to go ahead to the next stage for consideration.

In the same period there were 8,148 applications for child benefit, of which 44 per cent were approved. In all, 43 arrivals from the Eastern European countries were given council housing and 216 were given homelessness assistance.

Applications have fallen from their peak in the summer of last year to an average of between 13,000 and 14,000 a month currently.

Almost 100,000 Poles registered for work, followed by 26,000 Lithuanians, 18,500 Slovaks, and 12,000 Latvians. People from Slovenia were bottom of the registration list, with only 220. More than half of those registering for work are from Poland and one fifth of all registered workers are based in London.

The Home Office statistics show that more than 2,500 registered as bus, lorry and coach drivers; 3,900 as careworkers. Among professionals, 485 registered as teachers, researchers and classroom assistants, and more than 200 as GPs, hospital doctors, nurses and specialists.

Administration and business attracted 44,000, the hospitality and catering industry 42,000 and agriculture 20,000. Five thousand are farm-workers, 3,100 building labourers, 3,900 care assistants, 8,000 kitchen assistants and 27,000 factory workers.

Among those registered to work are five actors and a similar number of authors, circus performers, circus riggers, barristers and psychiatrists.

Tony McNulty, the Immigration Minister, said that the immigrants were continuing to take hard-to-fill jobs. He said: “Workers are contributing to our economy, paying tax and national insurance and filling key jobs in areas where there are gaps. We estimate registered workers contributed approximately £500 million to the UK economy between May 2004 and March 2005.”

Last May the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Cyprus and Malta joined the EU. The figures relate to the eight East European states. Eight out of ten workers were aged between 18 and 34, and just 5 per cent registered dependants, such as spouses or children. The report showed that 96 per cent were working full time and 80 per cent were earning £4.50 to £5 an hour.

It also showed that the popularity of London was declining. In May and June last year 26 per cent of new arrivals registered to work in the capital but in the first three months of this year the proportion had fallen to 17 per cent.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Swine flu vaccine for all as drug rushed through
• Artificial sperm and the race to build a baby
• BBC jets out stars to tout for prizes