Spain, facing rapidly rising unemployment, will stop issuing visas to most immigrant workers, the government said yesterday.

No more visas will be granted to low-skilled workers, such as those employed in restaurants and shops, a spokesman for the Labour and Immigration Ministry said.

The spokesman said the government would also insist that companies prove they cannot fill posts in Spain before bringing in foreign workers. She did not say when the measures would take effect.

Labour Minister Celestino Corbacho told reporters on Wednesday the government would cut the number of work visas "to roughly zero" in 2009.

"It doesn't seem reasonable that with 2.5 million unemployed we continue to recruit workers from abroad," said Ms Corbacho, who wants to pay unemployed foreigners to return to their countries.

About 180,000 foreign workers arrived last year in Spain.

The measure follows another decision to restrict family reunion visas, which the government had said would cut immigration by 40 per cent.

Unemployment has jumped by 500,000 in a year to 2.5 million as a construction boom has evaporated, emptying building sites.

Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who announced an amnesty to about 700,000 illegal immigrants soon after he took office in 2004, has done a U-turn on immigration since winning re-election.

In March's vote, the opposition conservatives won working class support by playing on fears about Spain's growing Muslim community.

The conservative Popular Party welcomed the visa crackdown.

"This is going in the right direction," said spokesman Esteban Gonzalez Pons, before calling for more action to stop illegal immigration.

Spain's immigrant population has risen to 10 per cent of the population from nominal levels a decade ago, with mainly low-ðpaid workers arriving from Latin America, Morocco, Asia, Eastern Europe and sub-Saharan Africa.

Immigrant workers built many of the millions of houses that sprung up during Spain's construction boom, but unemployment among foreigners is now higher than among natives.

Economists say the relatively low level of skills among Spain's immigrant workforce makes it more difficult to find them jobs outside the building and services sectors.