Lawbreakers’ living permits revoked
BREAKING the law while living in Guernsey on a permit has seen people lose their documents, it has been revealed.
The comments follow last year’s introduction of the Population Management Law, when the licences changed to a system of permits, which allow people to live and work in Guernsey.
A new criminal convictions and public interest policy was introduced at the same time, a Population Management Office spokesman said.
‘The policy introduced clarity and transparency in respect of ensuring a safe and secure community for islanders is maintained,’ he said.
‘The law and policy enables the Population Management Office to reject applications or revoke permits in certain circumstances.
‘Only a small minority of permit applications have been rejected or revoked.
‘In addition, the law provides that if a condition on a permit, such as not having a relevant criminal conviction, has been contravened that permit would become invalid at that point.’
There are two categories of relevant convictions.
The first is for serious crimes, which resulted in a prison sentence of more than 30 months in jail.
Also in this category is unspent serious violent crimes, sex offences, fraud crimes and money laundering.
The second category is for any unspent convictions or cautions for less serious matters. These include public order matters, drugs-related offences, theft, criminal damage and dishonesty offences.
A person is treated as having a serious criminal record if they had any conviction in the first category. They are also treated as having a serious criminal record if they have two convictions in the second category.
Anyone not resident in Guernsey with a serious criminal record will not be granted a permit.
Most permits are issued on the condition that no relevant convictions are committed during the permit period, or the document will be invalidated.
‘The Population Management Office’s experience in the first year is that there have been a small number of rejections and permits becoming invalid, which indicates the effectiveness of the policy,’ the spokesman said.
‘The vast majority of employers appear to be ensuring that their workforce are not considered against this policy.’
BLOB
The policy can be viewed at www.gov.gg/populationmanagement.
