Jersey switches housing and work control to status regime

Jersey's Control of Housing and Work regime has moved from registration cards to an "appropriate status" system. The rewritten Control of Housing and Work (Jersey) Law 2012, showing the law from 14 September 2026Jerseylaw, replaces applications for registration cards with applications for determination of statusJerseylawJerseylaw, registration cards with evidence of statusJerseylawJerseylaw, and the old licence vocabulary of "undertakings" and business licences with resident and non-resident business licences plus staffing licences. The Fees Order, the Licences and Exemptions Order and the Status Regulations each commence at the same time as the Control of Housing and Work (Amendment) (Jersey) Law 2022, and the showing-from date across the package is 14 September 2026Jerseylaw.

For residence and work, a person must hold an appropriate statusJerseylaw: they must fulfil the conditions for that status, have acquired it through transitional provisions, allocation by a licensed employer, a determination, or further provision, and it must not have expired or been lost or revoked. Evidence of status is provided under Article 4, and no other evidence counts. A determining officer decides applications, may grant a different status from the one applied for, may refuse on prescribed grounds, and may specify such conditions as Regulations or an Order under them allow; a person aggrieved by a determination, a refusal or a condition may seek review by the Panel under Article 40A.

The Residential and Employment Status Regulations 2025 define the statuses: Permanent Entitled, Entitled, Entitled for Work Only, Licensed, Licensed for Lease Only and Standard. The Regulations also set the appropriate status for occupying accommodation, entering specified land transactions and working.

An individual must not work in Jersey without the appropriate status unless exempted or working for a non-resident businessJerseylaw, and a business other than a non-resident business must not employ them without it and without holding the appropriate staffing licenceJerseylaw. Contravention is an offence punishable by a fine. A person must not carry on a business in Jersey without the appropriate licenceJerseylaw, an offence carrying up to two years' imprisonment and a fine.

The Control of Housing and Work (Licences and Exemptions) (Jersey) Order 2026 names the appropriate licences — a resident business licence for a resident businessJerseylaw and a non-resident business licence for a non-resident businessJerseylaw — and carves out exemptions for short-duration and low-intensity work and business, including work of 10 days or less in a 12-month period and small part-time resident businesses. Staffing licences state the maximum number of Licensed, Licensed for Lease Only and Standard workers, with agency, cover, second-job and other exempt workers not counting toward the cap.

The Control of Housing and Work (Fees) (Jersey) Order 2026 sets the price of the new system: £88.15 for determination of Licensed, Licensed for Lease Only or Standard status, £10,506.25 for Entitled status on economic or social grounds, no fee for Permanent Entitled or hardship and residence-based Entitled determinations, no fee for a resident business licence, day-banded fees up to £4,459.77 for a non-resident business licence, per-head annual staffing-licence fees (£55.14 per Standard worker, £247.02 per Licensed worker, £551.45 per agency-supplied Standard worker), and £551.45 for a legal person's consent to acquire land. The Minister may waive or reduce any fee where fair and reasonable.

The package comprises the Control of Housing and Work (Jersey) Law 2012 as amended, the Residential and Employment Status Regulations 2025, the Licences and Exemptions Order 2026 and the Fees Order 2026Jerseylaw.