Dear Mr. Culliford,

I have just read your article published on thesun.co.uk (www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4776276/Romanians-Bulgarians-are-queueing-up-for-handout-Britain.html) regarding the imminent wave of Romanians and Bulgarians that will rush to invade UK once the work restrictions are lifted and I have to say that I’m really disappointed that this is what the British people think of us. Have you bothered to ask the Bulgarians which you interviewed if they can even afford to pay for the one way trip to UK? I assure you that most of them can’t.

I, sir, am a highly skilled Romanian immigrant working as a scientific programmer at TU Delft in The Netherlands. I came here a year ago because I was unable to find any good jobs in Romania that required my expertise. Unfortunately, many young people from my country have the same issue after graduation and they are eager to apply what they learned, but they can’t find any suitable job to do so. So, what would you expect all these people to do? Give up on university studies just because their country does not provide enough work places for educated people?

I hope that you are aware of the fact that many IT companies in western countries are complaining that they are unable to find enough skilled people to hire, but, because of the strict work regulations, most of them are not willing to go through the process of hiring Romanians or Bulgarians. Thus, when I was searching for jobs two years ago, I was instantly rejected by more than 95% of UK and Dutch companies that could have benefited from my skills. I applied to dozens of foreign companies, just to get a negative response. These are the consequences of the restrictions that people such as yourself impose. Also, please note that I am not impressed by the “generous benefits” that your country provides. I can afford to pay rent and buy a laptop and TV by myself just fine.

As a final note, you should not expect to have the same problems that plagued Italy and France regarding gipsy immigration. If they wanted to move to your country to benefit from your handouts, they would have done so during the same period when they emigrated to the other western countries, because most of them are not interested in legal work places. I think the weather conditions in UK are quite unbearable for people who are used to living on the streets.

Best regards,
Mihai Todor
www.linkedin.com/in/mihaitodor85