Passport loophole to be closed

Saturday 08 February 2014

A loophole in Jersey’s legislation means that there is currently no law against forging passports here or using false information to get a UK passport.

Although Guernsey has had a law in place since the 1970s, no similar legislation was introduced here. The Home Affairs Minister, Ian Le Marquand, has now put forward a new law that would close the loophole.

In a statement explaining the new law, he wrote: “There is currently no legislation in Jersey relating to offences surrounding the forgery of UK passports, nor to the making of a false statement or falsifying a document when applying to obtain or renew a UK passport.

“Guernsey has had legislation in force for such offences since the 1970s, and the introduction of similar legislation in Jersey has the support of the judiciary and is clearly desirable to address this lacuna.”

From next year, Jersey and Guernsey will lose the ability to print our own passports here. Updated security measures on passports mean that they will have to be printed in the UK – although people will still have to apply to the Jersey authorities for a passport, and the passports will still say “Bailiwick of Jersey” on them.

Ministers fought a losing battle to keep the right to print passports in the Island, but the UK refused to budge.

The new law proposed by Senator Le Marquand would create new offences for making a false passport application, forging a passport, or purchasing , receiving or selling a forged passport. It will also be an offence to make a false or misleading statement on a passport application.