In 2008 three times as many non-EU IT workers entered the UK as did during the dotcom boom earlier this decade - despite thousands of IT workers being made redundant in the downturn.

According to the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo), in 2008 35,430 UK work permits were issued to foreign IT workers compared with 12,726 at the peak of the dotcom boom.

Ann Swain, chief executive of APSCo, is urging the Government to force companies to advertise job vacancies in the UK before bringing in foreign workers, as a means of tapping into UK-based talent first.

She said: "The economic slowdown and the supposedly ‘tougher' new points-based immigration system seem to have had very little effect on slowing the influx of foreign IT staff into the UK. A few years ago this may have been overlooked, but with IT jobs much scarcer, this is now a continuing issue.

"Most of the foreign IT workers are software engineers and systems analysts. They are not coming here to answer phones on helpdesks, but are taking highly skilled and well paid jobs."