PARIS, Nov 6: Ten days ahead of schedule, France’s Red Cross-operated refugee camp at Sangatte will no longer accept new occupants.

Since its opening in September, 1999, the facility has housed some 60,000 immigrants, most of whom having arrived at the center with the intention of seeking refugee status in Great Britain.

As of Wednesday, the only persons allowed into the Sangatte camp will have to produce the special badge attributed to them recently by representatives of the United Nations High Commission on Refugees.

Before the center’s premature closing, some 100 immigrants presented themselves daily at Sangatte in hopes of obtaining the coveted badge.

The facility is scheduled to close down in late April.