Constable Len Norman made the decision to change government policy in this area late on Tuesday afternoon, saying that he would provide up to 130 seasonal work permits to employers in the agriculture industry on a trial basis over the next two years.
The stipulations for employers will be that they can only take on seasonal workers under the pilot scheme for a maximum period of seven months, and that workers employed under a trial permit will need to have at least a three-month period of absence from the Island between jobs.
The Jersey Farmers’ Union, which has been waiting for a decision on this issue in time for the beginning of early potato planting in January, has spoken of its gratitude to Mr Norman and to the Customs officials who were involved in the background work. The president of the JFU, Peter Le Maistre, said: ‘We are very grateful for the decision made by the Home Affairs Minister to allow a trial of staff from outside of the EU. We also appreciate the efforts of the team at Immigration to facilitate this. In the coming weeks we will continue to work closely with them to ensure that the trial is successful both for the agricultural industry and the Island.’
In an interview with the JEP leading up to last week’s Jersey Farming Conference, Mr Le Maistre confirmed that the JFU would be looking to Ukraine for the first tranche of workers under the trial permit scheme.
Explaining the time pressures for farmers and the urgency to begin recruiting under this scheme right away, he said that farmers needed certainty.
‘To properly recruit, we have to find the right staff, because we want them from a rural background,’ he said.
‘They have to have criminal checks and that sort of thing, which will probably take a month, and then they’re going to need a visa from the UK in addition to their Jersey permit, which will take another three to eight weeks.
‘I think, realistically, we’re probably talking about the middle of January. Ideally, we’d need them by 5 January, but if it was the middle of the month, it wouldn’t be the end of the world.
‘But at least, even if it is in the middle of January, we’d know they’re definitely coming.
‘It gives people the confidence to know that, while planting may need to be delayed by three or four days, they do have staff coming.’
