Skilled High Earner route

Who it is for

The route is for someone who wants to live in Jersey and run their own business here, full time. It opened in spring 2026 as a further way into Licensed status, and it sits alongside the standard business licence rather than replacing it.

Three things rule you out before anything else is considered. You cannot be ordinarily resident in Jersey, you cannot own residential property here, and you cannot already hold a residential status. It is a route for arrivals.

There is no prescribed type of business. What Locate Jersey requires is that you work in it for more than 25 hours a week and that it is actively generating earned income — a holding structure that receives dividends is not what the route describes.

The two tests

Income. At least £250,000 a year of Jersey-taxable income, earned through the business, for the whole of your Licensed permission: ten years, or until you reach Entitled status if that comes first. It is checked as you go, not only at the door.

Benefit to the island. You commit to generating economic or social benefit for Jersey and show how you will do it. Locate Jersey’s own examples are mentoring or investing in local businesses, board and non-executive roles, and community or charitable work. Treat it as part of the application rather than a formality; it is the part a vague answer weakens.

Not the same £250,000 as High Value Residency

This is the point most comparisons get wrong.

	Skilled High Earner	High Value Residency
What £250,000 measures	Income you earn each year	Tax you pay each year
Status granted	Licensed	Entitled
Do you have to work?	Yes — in your own Jersey business	No
Property	£2m or above, bought or leased	Locate Jersey’s published minimums

At Jersey’s standard 20% rate, £250,000 of income produces something in the region of £50,000 of tax before reliefs. The High Value Residency contribution is £250,000 of tax. Same headline number; a very different bar.

The trade-off runs the other way on what you get. High Value Residency grants Entitled status, which permits buying any property. Skilled High Earner grants Licensed status, which ties you to working in your business and limits you to a home you live in.

Property

The route permits buying or leasing property only where it is valued at £2m or more. Separately, Licensed status allows you to buy only a property you intend to occupy as your home, under the Control of Housing and Work Regulations. Between them, that rules out most of the island’s stock and all of its investment property — so start the search early, for the same reason it matters on High Value Residency.

If you stop

The income condition runs for ten years. If you leave the route after becoming resident, Locate Jersey says you may apply for a standard business licence and Licensed permission — a new application, referred to the relevant Minister or Ministerial group, judged on the criteria in force at the time, and not guaranteed. Locate Jersey describes any change as at the applicant’s own risk. Plan the business on the assumption that it has to keep earning.

How we help

We test whether the business fits before you commit to anything, compare the route with High Value Residency on your actual figures, assemble the evidence for the income and benefit tests, and run the property search in parallel with the application. The business licence is part of the same application, and we coordinate the advisers who handle the tax and legal side.