The States Assembly has agreed, in principle, to stricter controls on the number of migrants who get permission to stay in Jersey permanently.

It includes nine-month, four-year, ten-year, and long-term permissions and would remove the automatic graduation of migrant workers into “entitled to work” and then “entitled” status.

It will mean workers will no longer have the automatic right to get any job after five years in the island.

The ten-year permission would allow workers to apply to stay permanently, while those on long-term permissions would be able to stay for as long as they want.

This Migration Policy was described by Chief Minister Senator John Le Fondre and Assistant Chief Minister Deputy Rowland Huelin as a first step towards building the foundation needed to create a population policy.

The population has increased by an average of 11,700 over the last ten years, with net inward migration accounting for about 80% of this increase.

Deputy Huelin warned fellow politicians that the population could get even further out of control if action isn't taken now.

"Without migration controls, we will not be able to manage whatever population policy is agreed. Quite simply, we must have the means to stop poorly targeted growth, otherwise, we'll find ourselves on a path to 137,000 or more by 2035."

There was some critical opposition to the plans, with Deputy Rob Ward accusing Ministers of leaving politicians with an inadequate choice as it has been left too close to the election, which Reform colleague Senator Sam Mezec echoed.

Senator Kristina Moore said removing the automatic graduation is inappropriate, particularly at this time, while Deputy Kevin Pamplin described it as rushed and poorly presented.

But not all members voted for it. For me I couldn’t vote for something that felt rushed, poorly presented and didn’t take on the voices of many now concerned of a post pandemic world. Will keep an open mind for when the legislation is brought forward & any amendments. https://t.co/viNstut0AQ

— Deputy Kevin Pamplin (@KevinPamplin) March 3, 2021

The CEO of the Jersey Hospitality Association wrote a letter to States members before the debate, asking them not to vote to introduce any more limits on who can come and work here until the impact of Brexit on finding migrant workers is known.

In response, the Chief Minister said it was vital that law changes are made now to provide the right level of immigration controls for Jersey.

Speaking in the debate, Senator John Le Fondre says this is a very significant step forward.

"Let's be clear - if we as politicians want to live to our commitments of starting to tackle population, and if that means being able to reduce the growth that has taken place over the last five years of over 1,000 people a year, then one has to have controls. We can then wrap the (population) policy around that.

"We mustn't be under any illusions that having effective controls will involve difficult and ethical challenges because at some point it will involve having to say no."

It was also agreed that a panel should be appointed to give expert advice on the development and implementation of Migration Controls.