IT could cost Jersey Customs up to £200,000 to start issuing hundreds of skilled workers with a more recognisable type of visa, it has emerged – following concerns that some employees are facing difficulties returning to the Island with their current documentation.
The estimated figure, included within a Freedom of Information response, follows on from a suggestion made by the Children, Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel earlier this year that Jersey should produce “visa vignettes” – physical visas that are added to a traveller’s passport or travel document.
The panel said that some workers – there are just under 500 with skilled work permits – returning to the Island were facing difficulties, owing to certain airlines not recognising the validity of the “wet ink” stamp currently being issued.
However, Home Affairs Minister Helen Miles said at the time that the problem only affected a “very small number” of people, stating that it would be “prohibitively expensive for Jersey to go down the line of producing their own vignettes”.
According to a response to an FoI request, the Jersey Customs and Immigration Service endorsed approximately 2,600 passports using wet-ink stamps to either vary or extend immigration permissions between 1 January 2019 and 31 December 2022.
Of those, 499 pertained to skilled-work permit-holders.
“JCIS have received notification from a very small number of individuals, approximately 0.5%, who have had difficulties in returning to the Common Travel Area. Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man immigration authorities all grant leave to remain using wet-ink stamps,” the response continued.
It estimated that initial set-up costs for JCIS to issue vignettes or biometric resident permits would be between £120,000 and £200,000 owing to the “IT development and bespoke printing facilities” that would be needed.
The response also said that, in June last year, the UK Home Office – on behalf of the Crown Dependencies – issued guidance to carriers worldwide “highlighting that Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man immigration authorities grant leave to remain using wet-ink stamps” and provided examples of the stamps.
“The guidance also made it clear that these wet-ink stamps confer authority for travel to the United Kingdom and islands without a need for a separate visa.
“To improve the experience of passengers passing through UK ports of entry, immigration permissions granted in Jersey are now shared electronically with UK Border Force so that the status of travellers granted leave to remain in Jersey can be automatically accessed and confirmed,” it added.
