( dpa ) - Nearly 800,000 citizens from eastern Europe have applied to work in Britain since Poland and seven other former Communist countries joined the European Union (EU) in 2004, statistics showed Tuesday.
The Home Office figures did not include the self-employed - thought to include a large number of construction workers - nor migrants from Romania and Bulgaria, who joined the EU later.
The figures showed that 796,000 applications for work visas had been made by late 2007 of which 766,000 were approved.
Separate government data showed that 30,570 Bulgarians and Romanians had applications to work in Britain granted, after they joined the EU early last year.
The figures were published as statistics in Poland showed that every 10th Polish citizen had worked abroad during the past 10 years.
