Foreign prostitutes in the Netherlands are to be excluded from new rules that allow foreigners specialists in their fields to work without a permit. The decision on Friday angered members of the world?s oldest profession, which is legal in that country, who want to be considered experts since ?what we do isn?t taught on any school curriculum?.

The country is home to 30,000 prostitutes, many of them foreigners, who have their own trade union and pay income tax. From October 1, the Netherlands will allow foreign specialists to work without a permit if they earn more than 45,000 euros a year if they are over 30 or 32,600 euros if they are younger than 30. ?Because prostitutes could earn salaries in these income levels, they could in practice be like specialists. The lower house of Parliament finds this undesirable because prostitution is a legal but not a normal line of business,? the ministry of Social affairs and Employment said.

Mariska Majoor, founder of the Amsterdam Prostitute Information Centre, said the decision is discriminatory.?We pay taxes, we are legal. The same rules should apply, not only when it suits the government.? She urged the government to be fair. ?If the government applies rules that benefit it, it should apply those that benefit us.?

The Netherlands has defined prostitution as a legal profession since 1988. There are 2,000 brothels operating openly in the country?s infamous ?Red Light? districts.

Melanie CHEARY