Revealed: How Ministers plan to reduce migration

Friday 08 December 2017

Time-limited work permits, criminal checks and photo registration cards – these are the three central pillars of a policy years in the making on how to control the island’s rocketing population finally revealed today.

The moves were announced by the Council of Ministers in a report outlining their plans on how to manage inward migration.

While Ministers had previously identified an annual net migration number of 325 – a move that attracted much criticism at the time, as it was regularly smashed – the proposed new policy carefully steers away from giving an exact figure to cap the population.

Instead, it would see the population continue to grow, but just not at the rate it has done over the past 20 years - reaching just shy of 120,000 by 2037, with growth averaging, but not limited to, around 700 people per year.

Pictured: How Jersey's population has grown over the past decade.

Last year, meanwhile, the island let in 1,300 new people. If growth remains at these levels, the island can expect its population to top 130,000 by 2037 – thousands higher than where Ministers would like it to be. 

Nonetheless, whether these plans become a reality relies with States Members, who will vote on them next year. 

While the measures may be a welcome addition for some, the island’s business community have already expressed concerns – especially those within the hospitality industry, who relied on a base of more than 1,800 registered workers last year. 

Pictured: Population growth projections.

In an Institute of Directors lunchtime event yesterday, Chairman Chris Clark challenged the Chief Minister over the controls he’ll be bringing forward and their impact on business, adding, “hopefully, we can entice younger people to the island still, that’s my concern.” 

Senator Gorst responded that the population was aimed at curbing the amount of people that gain five years’ residency in Jersey without using a restrictive cap number. 

“One of the issues I think the public are rightly concerned about is the tipping over period of five years, and we know that those sectors like farming, like tourism, like retail… We know that they struggle with the people that they need in their sectors and so the proposal that we’ll be consulting on (…) will be about allowing those sectors to have time-limited work permits so that they can have the supply of labour that they need but they won’t tip over into long-term liabilities in our community on the Social Security Fund on Infrastructure, on the aging population issue.” 

Pictured: Senator Ian Gorst speaking about the population policy at an IoD event yesterday.

He added that government officials were keen to speak with businesses about the draft plans. “We are going to be working with businesses to ensure that the new mechanisms provide the people that they need and want to grow and stimulate the economy and it’s got to be flexible. So we’re not putting a number in there for all of the reasons that people like IoD and Chamber said to us last time. (…) We’re trying to create a flexible model that’s good for business, but at the same time addresses some of the real concerns about the effect on our environment about future infrastructure and ageing population.” 

So what exactly are the Council of Ministers proposing? 

Time-limited work permits

All new registered workers will be given time-limited permits for a period of up to 10 months if the nature of their work is “seasonal and temporary” or up to four years if employment is year-round. Workers using the latter won’t be allowed to work in the island again as registered employees once that permit has expired, therefore stopping them from gaining entitled status through five years’ residency.

Pictured: New work permits would be time-limited.

A report detailing the plans explains that permits like these would “increase ‘churn’ in our labour market” which they say could lead to reductions of up to 700 people per year gaining entitled status and qualifying for social housing.However, Ministers acknowledged that the plans could be an obstacle for social inclusion, and even lead employers to treat their workers with less care and respect, as their staff won’t easily be able to change job.

Criminal record checks

While acknowledging that migrants are not more or less likely to commit crimes than locals, the new policy would make all new migrants have to undergo a full background check.

Pictured: Criminal record checks will be 

They say that this would enhance public safety and reduce demands on the prisons, courts and probation system, as currently migrants with criminal records do not face barriers in moving to Jersey if they are part of the EEA.

Photo registration cards

Ministers say that adding photos to new registration cards would enhance compliance when people access employment and new housing, and help to clamp down on fraudulent use of others’ cards. Such a photo ID could also be compatible with plans for a Digital ID to be used on smartphones. 

Pictured: A return to photographic ID for new arrivals is quite literally on the cards.

Nonetheless, the proposals are bound to cause some backlash – the report says that some islanders have said that such a move would interfere with their civil liberties. Others have even compared it to the Occupation era, and say it constitutes “excessive government control.”