Work Permit Policy: Amendment: Employment of Sportspersons and Coaches: English Language Test Requirement

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A decision made 19 January 2015:

Decision Reference: MD-HA-2015-0010
Decision Summary Title :	Amendment to the English language requirements for the issue of work permits to sportspersons and coaches		Date of Decision Summary:	13 January 2015
Decision Summary Author:	Director, Legal Status and Revenue, Jersey Customs and Immigration Service		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	n/a
Written Report Title :	Amendment to the English language requirements for the issue of work permits to sportspersons and coaches		Date of Written Report:	13 January 2015
Written Report Author:	Director, Legal Status and Revenue, Jersey Customs and Immigration Service		Written Report : Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Subject: Amendment to the Jersey Work Permit Policy.
Decision(s): The Minister decided to instruct the Director, Legal Status and Revenue, to amend the Jersey Work Permit Policy to require that, for the employment of sportspersons and coaches, the employer must show that the employee has passed the speaking and listening elements of an approved English language test which is at least CEFR level A1.
Reason(s) for Decision: The Jersey Work Permit Policy currently requires that for the employment of sportspersons and coaches the employer must show that the employee has passed the speaking and listening elements of an approved English language test which is at least CEFR level B1; this English Language requirement is higher than that required in the UK and puts local employers at a commercial and competitive disadvantage to their UK competitors.
Resource Implications: None.
Action required: The Director, Legal Status and Revenue to arrange for Jersey Work Permit Policy and Procedures to be amended accordingly.
Signature:		Position: Minister for Home Affairs
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Work Permit Policy: Amendment: Employment of Sportspersons and Coaches: English Language Test Requirement - CEFR Level 1

Home Affairs Department

Customs and Immigration Service

To: Minister for Home Affairs

Submitted by: Director, Legal Status and Revenue

Date: 13 January 2015

Subject: Amendment to the English language requirements for the issue

of work permits to sportspersons without the right of abode

Introduction

Section 1(4) of the Immigration Act 1971, as extended to Jersey, empowers the Minister for Home Affairs to make rules for persons not having the right of abode in Jersey seeking leave to enter or remain in Jersey for the purpose of employment. To that end, the Minister has made the Immigration (Work Permits) (Jersey) Rules 1995 which sets out the general matters to which to Minister may have regard when issuing a work permit. The Work Permits Jersey Policy and Procedures, (last updated 01/08/2014), sets out detailed instructions for caseworkers on how to make decisions on work permit applications.

Background

In November 2008, the UK introduced an English language requirement for persons coming to take employment in the country. In March 2012 the Minister for Home Affairs introduced an equivalent English language requirement, as part of the qualifying criteria, for the issue of a work permit in Jersey. It was considered that migrants coming to work in Jersey should have a basic command of the English language that will allow them to cope with everyday life. The Immigration Work Permit Rules and Work Permit Policy were amended to reflect these new requirements.

Paragraph 10.8 of the Work Permit Policy and Procedures sets out the qualifying criteria against which work permit applications for the employment of sportspersons / coaches in the Island, are assessed.

It is a requirement that applicants for such work permits meet the ‘Knowledge of English’ specified in paragraph 3 of the Work Permit Policy.

Paragraph 3 of the Policy sets out how the English language requirement can be met or an exemption granted. The employer must show that the employee:

has passed the speaking and listening elements of an English language test appropriate to level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR); or
be exempt by being a national of a majority English speaking country; or
be exempt by possessing a degree taught in a majority English speaking country; or
(iv)has obtained an academic qualification which meets the recognised standard of a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree or PhD in the UK and was taught or researched in English.

In the UK, however, sportspersons and coaches are only required to prove their knowledge of English by passing an approved English language test to the lower A1 level of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). This lesser requirement for sportspersons and coaches was not specified in the Jersey Work Permit Policy.

In order to align with the UK, the Work Permit Policy will need to be amended to require sportspersons and coaches to prove their knowledge of English by having passed an approved English language test with at least CEFR level A1 in speaking and listening.

Conclusion

This Service recommends that the Minister instructs this Service to amend the Jersey Work Permit Policy to require that, for the employment of sportspersons and coaches the employer must show that the employee has passed the speaking and listening elements of an approved English language test which is at least CEFR level A1.

Steven Le Marquand

Director, Legal Status and Revenue

Customs and Immigration Service

13 January 2015