Getting a UK visa now becomes tougher

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"We are considering a new system for visit visas where British citizens can sponsor relatives to come for short stays in return for payment of a bond to guarantee departure," he said.

"From next year we will be counting people in and out of the UK electronically, allowing us check identities quickly and securely against passports or visas, and then to match that against the identity register and the warning indexes for crime, terrorism and immigration," the prime minister said, adding, "Early identity checks have already led to 18,000 alerts and 1,500 arrests."

In order to deter employers from engaging illegal workers, the penalties have been raised to up to 10,000 or two years in prison for each subsequent offence.

The announcement is close on the heels of the 'three-stage route to citizenship' that was introduced recently and which has apparently made procuring a British passport an uphill task.

Recently, the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, declared that migrants will now have to 'earn' the right to become British citizens under a new deal.

Under the proposals, initially, a limited number of migrant categories will be granted the status of probationary citizens for a set period within which they can earn full citizenship or permanent residence.

However, full access to benefits - such as jobseeker's allowance and income support will no longer be granted to some migrant categories unless the immigrants has been in the UK for five years.

Applicants will instead have to wait until they have completed their probationary period.

Smith said that Britain was a "tolerant and fair country" but expressed the need for carefully managed migration.

Smith said that migrants will be refused full access to benefits and public services until they complete a "mandatory probationary citizenship phase."

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