By Christie Bailey
NO formal objections to Jersey鈥檚 French ID card travel scheme extension have been raised by the UK government, the Island鈥檚 Home Affairs Minister has said.
In a Scrutiny hearing Deputy Mary Le Hegarat said that although concerns had been raised informally by the UK government in previous years, no formal objections had been received in the wake of a States Assembly vote to extend the scheme.
Politicians last month voted unanimously to back a proposition from Deputy Philip Bailhache asking the Home Affairs Minister to extend the initiative, which allows French nationals to travel to Jersey for day trips using only their national identity cards.
The scheme was first trialled in 2023 after French visitor numbers declined due to post-Brexit rules requiring passports at the border.
Deputy Le Hegarat gave her backing to maintaining the current French ID card travel scheme for day trips, but acknowledged that the continued acceptance of national identity cards in place of passports would 鈥渁t least to some extent鈥 diminish border security.
It last month emerged that that the Home Affairs Minister has been sent a letter by her UK counterparts outlining concerns about the extension to the scheme. The JEP requested a copy of the letter, but this was refused by the Government of Jersey.
The government pointed to Article 41 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011, which provides an exemption for information relating to the formulation or development of policies if its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice relations between Jersey and the United Kingdom or any other state, international organisation, or international court.
The extension to the French ID scheme will involve an exemption for Jersey to the Electronic Travel Authorisation regime expected to be brought in by the UK later this year.
Deputy Le Hegarat yesterday explained that this will be made possible through a change to the Island鈥檚 immigration rules.
She explained: 鈥淭he intention is that we鈥檒l do the day trip scheme through a minor change in Jersey immigration rules so that we can exempt French nationals on day trips using their ID cards, so that they won鈥檛 have to obtain an Electronic Travel Authorisation [ETA].鈥
Before Brexit, EU citizens were free to travel through Britain to the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, but an ETA linked to passports has been required since April.
However, the exemption for French day trippers will only apply to passengers travelling on specific ferry services, and immigration permission will apply to Jersey alone 鈥 not to the UK or other Common Travel Area jurisdictions.
The immigration rule change is expected to be debated in the States Assembly in September, with implementation planned for early 2026.