Changes in employees residential and working status

Over the course of 2-3 March 2021 the Government of Jersey adopted proposition P137/2020 which paves the way for the current residential and working permissions to be changed. The debates made clear that the contents of P137/2020 were just ‘in principle’. The major proposed changes are:

  • to dispense with the current ‘automatic graduation’ system whereby an individual can move up the hierarchy of residential statuses based on the time spent in Jersey; and
  • require that the licences employer’s obtain are linked to a particular individual (i.e. that an employer does not have spare licences).

Proposed legislative changes to the Control of Housing and Work (Jersey) Law 2012 are expected to be lodged for debate during either the Summer or Autumn of 2021.

Those ‘in principle’ changes propose to introduce the following residency and employment statuses:

  • A 9 month permission that does not lead to permanent residential status
  • A 4 year permission that does not lead to permanent residential status
  • A 10 year permission that may lead to permanent residential status
  • A long term permission that does provide permanent residential status

The details of each of these statuses are quite vague at this stage but it would appear that:

  • Any individual who has a 9 month permission will have to leave the Island for a period of at least 3 months before they could apply for another 9 month permission
  • Any individual who has a 4 year permission will have to leave Jersey for a period of at least 12 months before they could apply for another 4 year permission
  • Any individual who has the 10 year permission, it would appear has to work in the same type and level of occupation through the 10 year period in order to maintain this status

The proposition envisages that those individuals who already have the current ‘Licensed’ or ‘Entitled to Work’ status are automatically moved to the 10 year permission (although they will, we understand, still have to accrue their 10 years to gain Housing status)

Action Point: It is expected that this new residential and employment statuses will be in place possibly by the end of 2021 or at least in 2022. Businesses will have to analyse and determine to what extent any of its existing recruitment policies will require alteration

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