The UK is working with several European governments to try to restrict the benefits migrants can claim when they move from one EU country to another.
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith told the Sunday Times the UK was not the only country concerned about immigration and "benefit tourism".
He said he had been working with Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland to pressure Brussels into changing EU law.
The UK recently announced a three-month ban on benefits to new EU migrants.
This was prompted by Bulgarians and Romanians gaining access to the UK jobs market at the beginning of the year.
'Committed to country'Mr Duncan Smith said there was "a growing groundswell of concern about the [immigration] issue" and Britain was "right in the middle of a large group of nations saying enough is enough".
He said he had been working with the other countries to bring pressure on Brussels to allow individual EU member countries to make their own rules stricter.
Mr Duncan Smith said Britain should ask migrants: "Demonstrate that you are committed to the country, that you are a resident and that you are here for a period of time and you are generally taking work and that you are contributing".
He added: "At that particular point... it could be a year, it could be two years, after that, then we will consider you a resident of the UK and be happy to pay you benefits."
Sources close to Mr Duncan Smith stressed he was expressing an aspiration for the future rather than spelling out a policy.
Meanwhile, Europe's Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner Laszlo Andor has insisted that migrant workers are net contributors to the UK economy.
'Generous systems'In an interview with BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend, he said Britain risked "losing friends" and developing a bad image because of the way the debate on immigration was developing.
He said: "We shouldn't assume that the UK welfare system is a lot more generous than that of many other countries. France, Denmark and a few other countries have significantly more generous welfare systems.
"The migrant workers altogether are net contributors to the system. They take out much less in the form of benefits or welfare services than what they contribute in the form of taxes or contributions to the system."
Mr Andor previously said the UK risked being seen as a "nasty" country.
Shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna has suggested Labour might be interested in restricting free movement within the European Union for workers who do not have the firm offer of a job.
Speaking on BBC One's Question Time, Mr Umunna did not elaborate on the idea but said he was already discussing it with "partners" from other countries.
UKIP leader Nigel Farage has called for immigrants to be barred from receiving any benefits until they have been resident in the UK for five years.
The easing of restrictions on Bulgarians and Romanians working in the UK, from 1 January, has seen debate raised on controls of movement inside the EU.
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