A new EU blue card, designed to attract skilled workers from outside Europe, will be no help to UK recruiters as Britain is highly likely to opt out of the scheme.

Plans for the card were unveiled last week by the EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini. It will be based on the US green card, streamlining the immigration process for applicants who have a recognised diploma, three years’ experience and the offer of a job that cannot be filled by someone from the EU.

The EU has released figures showing that the US is currently more effective than the EU in attracting skilled workers.

Just 5% of skilled workers are migrating to the EU, compared with 55% migrating to the US. Meanwhile 85% of the unskilled migrate to the EU and just 5% to the US.

However, a Home Office spokesman told Recruiter: “We will need to see the full blue-card proposals before making a decision. But we are forging ahead with a points-based system.”

He said the UK was unlikely to introduce two competing systems for skilled migrants.