African nationals working in Jersey (FOI)

​​​Request

With reference to the previous Freedom of Information request below, please provide updated figures for the following questions:

Kenyan nationals working in Jersey (FOI)​

​​A

How many people holding a Kenyan passport or passport issued by another African country are licensed to work in Jersey?

B

Are those people entitled to bring family members with them?

C

If yes, how are ‘family members’ defined?

D

Are family members required to have a Kenyan passport or will a passport issued by another Country (including UK or Commonwealth) suffice?

E

How many people in Jersey on a work licence from Kenya or another African Country, have brought family members with them?

F

How are the details of these persons recorded?

G

How many have brought a family member that holds a UK or non Kenyan or African passport?

H

How many have left and returned on more than one occasion?

I

If a Kenyan or African on a work license in Jersey gives birth in Jersey what is their immigration status and that of their child?

Response

For the purpose of the response, we assume that the term ‘licensed to work’ means individuals that hold a work permit. 

The Jersey Immigration Rules set out the practice for regulating the entry into and stay of persons in Jersey, including those persons sub: 

Immigration legislation, rules and feedback (gov.je)

The Jersey Work Permit Policy sets out the main routes available to employers to employ individuals from overseas:

Work Permit Policy & Procedures (gov.je)​

A

There are currently 923 African nationals in Jersey under immigration work permit conditions of which 604 are Kenyan nationals.

B

Those on temporary work permits are not permitted to bring their family members to Jersey.

Those on skilled work permits can bring their family members to live with them in Jersey but they must be able to adequately maintain and accommodate them without recourse to public funds.

C

Family members of the work permit holder are defined as dependant spouses/partner and dependant children under the age of 18 years old.

D

A family member is not defined by nationality but by the relationship they have to the work permit holder, therefore family members are not required to hold the passport of any particular country.

E

There are currently 193 African nationals in Jersey as dependants of work permit holders. 

The relevant information system is not configured to be able to provide a breakdown of how many work permit holders have brought their dependants to Jersey.  A Scheduled Public Authority is not required to create or manipulate data in order to respond to Freedom of Information requests, therefore, Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies.

F

Application details of work permit holders and their dependants are captured on electronic application forms and retained in local and UK Home Office systems.

G

No data is held on the number of family members holding a UK passport as these persons do not require immigration permission to enter or remain in Jersey.  Therefore Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies.

In relation to non-Kenyan / African passport holders, it is not possible to provide a breakdown without individually reviewing all 923 immigration records.  It has been estimated that providing the information requested would exceed the 12.5 hours allowed for Freedom of Information responses in accordance with Regulation 2(1) of the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014. Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has therefore been applied.  

H

This information is not held by the Government of Jersey therefore Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies.

I

A child born in the Jersey / UK will assume their parents’ nationality and will not automatically be British citizens. The parents would need to apply for immigration permissions for the child to align with the parents work permit permissions.

Articles applied

Article 3 - Meaning of “information held by a public authority”

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if –

(a)     it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or

(b)     it is held by another person on behalf of the authority.

​Article 16 - A scheduled public authority may refuse to supply information if cost excessive

(1) A scheduled public authority that has been requested to supply information may refuse to supply the information if it estimates that the cost of doing so would exceed an amount determined in the manner prescribed by Regulations. ​