A migrant who has worked in Jersey for more than 20 years said that he would turn down residency as he feels he has “no freedom”. Thousands of seasonal work permits are issued to migrant workers from Kenya, as well as India and the Philippines each year. However, worker David feels like he is “on a leash” while living on the island, instead wishing to be back in Kenya where he feels he has more freedom.
“It’s constant anxiety, constant worry,” he told The Observer. “You don’t know whether you’re coming back. If the boss is angry at you one day, your head is saying: ‘I’m not getting a permit again’ … it’s just that constant feeling of being on a leash.”
2,432 seasonal worker permits were issued to people going to Jersey in 2024, which has more than doubled since 2021. These were introduced at the beginning of the century to bring more Labour to the island.
The permit allows for migrants to work for nine months of a year, and requires them to spend the other three months out of the country.
However, David says that, even if he were offered residency, he wouldn’t take it due to the working conditions leaving him to feel bound to his employer.
“We’ve been made to feel that our labour is the only thing that we have to contribute here, that we’re not a member of this society,” he said. “You can be yourself in Kenya. You can be free. [In Jersey] you are not sure whether next year you have that job … It’s better to have freedom. To be a human being you need to be free.”
Since 2018, the number of people from a country outside of Europe living in Jersey has increased by 150%.
As of December 2023, the number of people with a nationality, excluding Jersey, British and European, had risen from 1,720 to 4,300 people.
The largest increase was among Kenyan and Filipino populations, while the number of European nationals fell by 7% over the same period.
There were an estimated 103,650 people living in Jersey at the end of 2023, which had increased by 350 from the previous year.