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Jersey airport
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A state of isolation |
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Immigration policies have always been difficult for a country that at one time tried to colonise half the globe. In the UK they held a great deal of political currency in the wake of World War II as the British government intermittently held the door open to large groups of immigrants, in order to help rebuild the nation’s war-torn infrastructure, then slammed it shut in their faces as soon as the job was done.
In a rapidly globalising economy, the issue is as hotly debated by politicians and the media as ever. How many immigrants can be let into a country before the economy suffers, law and order breaks down, and the resident population suffer? What criteria should immigrants have to fulfil? Is it feasible to be completely isolationist in the modern world?
These are questions that the Channel Islands community of Jersey have had to consider very seriously in the post-war years, and consequently they have developed one of the world’s tightest immigration policies. The Jersey authorities do not discriminate against the colour of your skin, or the colour of your passport, but they do openly discriminate against the colour of your money. But then an island with a land surface of 45 square miles, which forms one of the most attractive property positions in the British Isles, has got to limit the population in some manner or other.
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Your comments
1 Nick from Jersey - 5 October 2003
"Jersey has historically had a great deal of immigrants who I would not class as rich: from the Vikings, Hugenots, and in the 20th century thousands of Breton, Portuguese, Polish and African workers, most of whom work in the tourism and agriculture industry. Oh and a few thousand English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish every year who generally live in what we call "bedsits" which a basically one room.
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"I think the actual population is around 50 percent local born, many of these are restricted or forbidden from working in the EU as Jersey is not part of the EU basically because of its offshore finance status.
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"We do have a complicated housing policy due to having some of the most exspenive property in the world, if you want to buy you have to be rich to start with. But there are numerous rentable properties for immigrants, who I think live in sub standard accommodation.
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"The average wage is said to be 70 percent higher than the UK which actually encourages those who want to work, we do not have an unemployment payment such as in the UK, which probably discourages the less active.
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