J Category Housing Qualifications
Index
1. Regulation 1(1)(j) - Essentially employed person
2. Type of J category property
3. Company acquisition re J category property
1. Regulation 1(1)(j) - Essentially employed person
This Regulation applies to a person whom the Housing Minister accepts as being essentially employed in the Island where the Minister is satisfied that consent can be "justified" in the best interests of the community.
The 1(1)(j) provision is designed to assist employers with recruitment when no satisfactory local person is available. It is not a retention tool nor an entitlement to having gained a certain professional position or qualification and as such it is not available to existing employees at this time save in exceptional circumstances.
This Regulation is one where the Minister has discretion to grant consent to purchase or rent property or to require such employees to be housed in accommodation or leased by their employer. The Minister has to be consistent in his decisions and to bear in mind the effect of his decisions on his duty to prevent further aggravation of the Housing shortage.
The main criteria upon which the Minister considers each application are as follows:-
1.1 The contribution made to the Island by the employer e.g. in terms of tax revenues, services provided etc.
1.2 The significance of the post in question to the achievement of that contribution.
1.3 The track record of the employer and the recruitment and training of local people.
1.4 Evidence that there is not a satisfactory local candidate for the post in question.
Once the Minister is satisfied that the application is justified he may issue a consent which is either open ended in time or one which is time restricted. For very senior highly specialised employees consent is normally unrestricted in time.
In January 1987 the States of Jersey, as part of its immigration policy, asked the then Housing Committee (now the Housing Minister) to make time restricted consents wherever possible. The objective was to encourage employers to use the time for which consents were granted usefully by training residentially qualified persons to take over from essential employees when time restricted consents expired.
In relation to the length of time of a 1(1)(j) Consent the Housing Minister has adopted the following policy:-
(a) All posts which meet the (j) category consent criteria where the employer is well established and which require extensive knowledge and experience, be granted an unlimited (j) consent on commencement.
(b) All posts which meet the (j) category consent criteria and are required for a specific purpose or time limited purpose or where the employer is a new starter be granted a time limited consent.
(c) All existing consents that meet the above criteria be treated as above either when the employer seeks an extension or eighteen months prior to expiry.
Under the new migration policy, the essential employee provisions currently represented by the (j) provision will evolve such that businesses will be able to award licences to employees, within an overall allocation, as they see fit. This should discourage any turnover in the labour market which may arise in times of increased demand for staff from employers and rising house prices, by enabling existing employees to be granted "(j)" or essential employee status.
Where time restricted consents have been granted the Housing Minister does have discretion to grant extended consents where he considers these to be justified. Such applications need to satisfy the following requirements:-
(i) The employer engages in activities that have been, and continue to be, of significant benefit to the Island, and the employee concerned makes a substantial contribution to the activities from which that benefit is derived.
(ii) The refusal to grant the Consent requested would have a significant and detrimental affect on the benefits derived by the Island from the activities of the employer.
(iii) The employer has a satisfactory record, and is continuing to participate actively, in the training of persons with residential qualifications.
(iv) The experience and/or qualifications required certainly suggest that there is no prospect in the foreseeable future of the post concerned being filled by a person with residential qualifications.
(v) The employee concerned has already resided in the Island for at least three years with consent under Regulation 1(1)(j) and also has been with the applicant employer for that period.
Regard may also be had as to whether the person has made, and is continuing to make, a contribution to the Island community in addition to the benefit derived from the activities of his employer.
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2. Type of J Category Property
Approved essential employees are only permitted to occupy accommodation which is not specifically restricted to persons with local residential qualifications (i.e. persons who qualify under regulations 1(i) (a) - (h)). Occupation conditions are imposed on properties at the time of the transaction. With individual residential properties, under current policies, any property having a sale price in excess of £250,000 is automatically categorised as being available for persons under Regulations 1(1)(a) - (j) and under that figure are restricted to 1(1)(a) - (h). With the development of multiple units such as flats and apartments occupancy conditions are established at the time of development and carry forward through subsequent sales.
As a concession, nurses and teachers, being by definition generally lower paid of the essentially employed categories are entitled to occupy (a) - (h) accommodation.
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3. Company Acquisition re J category property
The property is purchased or rented initially in the name of a company (which can be beneficially owned by the (j) category employee) and once the (j) category individual has completed ten years’ continuous residence in such essential employment then he qualifies under Regulation 1(1)(e) and his status is no longer dependant upon his continued essential employment. The property can then be transferred from the company into the (j) category individual’s personal name.
A (j) category resident will lose his qualifications if he should emigrate, subject to the five year break rule.
The child of a person qualifying under Regulation 1(1)(j) is granted residential status in his own right following an aggregate period of ten years’ residence which must have commenced prior to his twentieth birthday and is subject to the (j) category parent remaining qualified during the time in which the requisite period of residence is completed.
Until recently the company owning a (j) category property had to be beneficially owned by the employer. The beneficial ownership of the company can now be transferred to the (j) category employee subject to receiving a formal revised consent to the original acquisition of the property seeking the consent of the Housing Minister to transfer the shares to the employee. The employee will also have to complete an undertaking enabling additional conditions to be imposed on the revised Consent that has been issued including an undertaking to sell the property out of the company in the event of the (j) category ceasing to be essentially employed or following his completion of his ten years’ continuous residence.
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For detailed advice concerning J category housing qualifications in Jersey, please contact Chris Renouf.
The information and expressions of opinion contained in this guide are not intended to be a comprehensive study or to provide legal advice and should not be treated as a substitute for specific advice concerning individual situations.