During States question time this week, Chief Minister Ian Gorst said that the Brexit negotiations between the UK government and the European Union made it difficult to form a long-term population policy.
However, he said that he intended to have an interim policy in place while the negotiations continued which could be revisited once the UK has left the EU.
He said: ‘I would like to be able to have a debate in this Assembly on this issue in July. Factoring in scrutiny, it may not be until after the summer. However, I will undertake to lodge a population policy prior to the summer recess.’
In 2015 – the latest figures available – 1,500 people moved to Jersey. This is despite the States forming an Interim Population Policy to run between 2014 and 2016 which forecast a net inward migration of 325 people per year.
Economic Development Minister Lyndon Farnham told the JEP last week that he would like to see the States consider a new work permit system which would restrict the rights of immigrants to work in Jersey for three- or five-year periods.
