Hospitality urges Minister to extend French ID card scheme

Monday 22 July 2024

Local hospitality businesses are urging the Home Affairs Minister to extend a scheme which allows French nationals to make day trips to the island using their ID cards as post-Brexit biometric border controls make its future uncertain.

Customs and Immigration’s Assistant Director Andy Hunt said in April that officials were in discussion with the UK Home Office to negotiate allowing the scheme to remain – but that there was “no firm answer” yet.

Home Affairs Minister Mary Le Hegarat confirmed with Express this morning that the scheme is still "under review".

This prompted the Jersey Hospitality Association (JHA) to emphasise that losing the scheme could impact not only local hospitality businesses but "the quality of life for us as islanders" by reducing demand for sea connectivity.

Pictured: Economic Development Minister Kirsten Morel and former Home Affairs Minister Helen Miles, who were responsible for setting up the scheme, were on hand to greet the first visitors who arrived on trips with their ID cards.

First launched in April 2023 to combat a marked drop in the number of French visitors following Brexit, the scheme was then extended until September 2024 following its "success".

However, the UK government recently launched the electronic travel authorisation (ETA) scheme, which is a new requirement for non-visa nationals visiting the country.

While some countries need to apply for this digital permission already, the ETA is due to be rolled out to the rest of the world, including EU countries, later this year – and applicants will need a valid biometric passport to travel to the Common Travel Area, which includes Jersey.

Deputy Le Hegarat said in April that the new border regulations could pose barriers to the scheme which currently allows French nationals to visit Jersey for a day-trip using their national identity cards.

Customs officials explained that French ID cards would fall outside the biometric requirements. 

Mr Hunt previously said: "We've got a piece of work ongoing with the Home Office to look at whether the system can be amended in order to be able to take account of French ID cards, but we have no firm answer on that yet."

Pictured: New biometric checks are making it difficult to renew the scheme, which uses ID cards rather than passports.

Speaking to Express, Marcus Calvani, co-CEO of the Jersey Hospitality Association, said the benefit of the scheme was "huge" to Jersey for a number of reasons, including a "significant increase" in the number of visitors dining at restaurants, cafés and attending different attractions around the island.

"Last year's successful trial didn't happen overnight," he said.

"There was a great deal of work to make sure that it met the requirements for travelling into the Common Travel Area and back to the European Union.

"It proved that we can be a bit more 'Jersey' about how we manage our affairs, and we can make decisions separate to the UK that benefit our island and our unique status.

"Making sure that we don't become a 'weak border' for the UK is obviously the right thing to do, but from what we have been told, this certainly is far from the case and not at all a concern to the UK either as there are many easier and cheaper routes into the UK should someone wish to break the law."

Pictured: Marcus Calvani is the co-CEO of the Jersey Hospitality Association, which represents the island's hospitality sector.

Mr Calvani referred to previous conversations about extending the scheme to 72 hours to help the accommodation sector, saying that the JHA believes it is possible "with the right governmental will".

"It would directly and significantly grow the visitor economy," he said.

Mr Calvani added: "As an Association, we strongly urge the Home Affairs Minister and her department to look at it again and come up with a way that we can do more with our closest neighbours who we share this part of the world with.

"We will always support ways to boost business, connectivity and movement with France as we have a long history together.

"Let's keep the scheme going and make it work better by extending it to allow French visitors to use their ID cards to stay.

"Immigration exceptions have been created elsewhere, Ireland and Gibraltar to name a couple, and if we are legally able to make choices that benefit our island, then we believe it should be the focus of our elected politicians to always focus on being as 'Jersey' as possible.

"Fewer French travellers coming here means less demand for sea connectivity to and from the island to France, and we all know what this will mean to the quality of life for us as islanders."

Deputy Le Hegarat previously said there was "no possibility" of extending the scheme to 72 hours, adding: "We belong to the Common Travel Area and that means there are extra security risks in relation to ID cards.

"Therefore we are looking at the possibility of extending beyond September 2024, but the 72-hour suggestion was never a formal proposition brought forward and was never agreed by either us or anyone else."