The remaining people turned away by Customs were denied entry for a variety of reasons, including not having a visa, being subject to a deportation order, having an asylum application pending in another country, being a failed asylum claimant or not being deemed a genuine visitor.
Those refused entry were Albanian, Romanian, Kuwaiti, Indian, Russian, American, Malaysian, Chinese, Iranian, Polish, Turkish, Egyptian and Libyan. One person was stateless.
The figures were provided to the JEP by Customs after an Albanian couple were given two-month suspended sentences in France after attempting to reach Jersey using stolen Italian identity cards.
The pair, aged 19 and 29, had attempted to board a ferry in Granville which was bound for Jersey on 23 July last year. However, they were stopped after the Italian identity documents they were using were found to be false and stolen.
They told a court in Normandy last month they had paid 3,200 euros for the documents and were not aware they were stolen.
Steve Le Marquand, director of borders and revenue for Customs and Immigration, said the denied-entry figures were consistent with previous years.
In 2017 16 people were refused entry, in 2016 17 and in 2015 19. In 2014 a total of 28 people were refused entry to Jersey, including 13 Russians arriving on a private vessel who did not have the relevant visa. And in 2013 nine people were refused entry to Jersey.
Mr Le Marquand said: ‘When an individual is refused entry on arrival in the Island, he/she is returned to the port of departure on the next available ferry/aircraft. The border officials at the departure port are informed of the refusal in Jersey and advised about the return arrangements.
‘In this way these individuals can be met by the border officials on their return. The carrying company is responsible for returning such individuals to the place of departure and as a result there is no cost to the local taxpayer.’
