Immigration needs urgent review, says business boss

Thousands of workers could leave Jersey at the same time without a policy review, the head of the Chamber of Commerce says

The Jersey government is being asked to "urgently review" its immigration policy over fears thousands of hospitality workers will leave at the same time.

Seasonal workers have been able to stay in the island for up to three years since 2021, with the first intake set to soon leave.

Murray Norton, chief executive of Jersey Chamber of Commerce, said allowing the workers to stay for three years had only been a short-term fix for the sector's recruitment issues and called for the policy review.

Home Affairs Minister Deputy Helen Miles said the sector had had time to prevent any recruitment issues as the three-year mark approached.

Mr Norton said the industry was already facing challenges, with minimum wages set to rise in January 2024, and more sites being needed for hotels.

He said: "We already have the lowest number of beds available at any one time for tourists that we've ever had, so that makes it extremely difficult.

"We have to avoid anything else that puts a high challenge on the hospitality industry, and what we really need is staff in that industry and that has been a challenge for some time.

"Making it more difficult is not the way forward."

Mr Norton said another issue was that workers were unable to return to the Common Travel Area after working in Jersey for three years.

"When they all leave at the same time, that is going to cause a real problem, and so we're hoping that the minister will urgently review this and we have asked her to do so as quickly as possible so that we can avoid the kind of perfect storm that is being talked about," he said.

Ms Miles said the sector should have benefited from the workers having stayed for three years.

She said it would have given "time for employers to develop their staff", and also "the opportunity to be developed in a way that potentially the nine-month work permit had not allowed them to do".