Entitled for Work Only · Regulations 1 and 9
Partners and Entitled for Work
Entitled for Work Only status is the Jersey residential status that gives full access to the labour market and limited access to housing. A spouse, civil partner or partner in an enduring relationship (two years) of someone who holds Permanent Entitled, Entitled, Licensed or Licensed for Lease Only status, or Entitled for Work Only earned through five years' residence, qualifies through the relationship (Regulation 9). The applicant must not already hold Permanent Entitled, Entitled, Licensed or Licensed for Lease Only status.
- Who qualifies
- A partner of a status holder
- Enduring relationship
- 2 years
- Work
- Any employer, or self-employed
- If the relationship ends
- Up to 5 years on the route
married, in a civil partnership, or in an enduring relationship
similar to marriage, continuous for the last two years
no staffing permission needed to employ the holder
from dissolution for a marriage or civil partnership, if you stay continuously resident
Figures checked against gov.je. Jersey thresholds change, and superseded numbers stay in circulation for years. Confirm the current figures before you act on them.
Who counts as an eligible partner?
Regulation 1 of the 2025 Regulations defines an eligible partner as someone who is married to, in a civil partnership with, or in an enduring relationship with the applicant. That person must hold a qualifying status and be ordinarily resident in Jersey. The applicant is the person seeking Entitled for Work Only status, and under Regulation 9 must not hold Permanent Entitled, Entitled, Licensed or Licensed for Lease Only status already.
The qualifying statuses are Permanent Entitled, Entitled, Licensed and Licensed for Lease Only. Entitled for Work Only counts too, but only where the holder earned it through five years’ residence (Regulation 8). Entitled for Work Only gained through a relationship or on hardship grounds does not pass to the next person along. The chain stops at one link. A partner who holds Entitled for Work Only through five years’ residence makes you eligible for this route. That partner does not count for the Qualified-housing rules in Schedules 1 and 2, which look only to Permanent Entitled, Entitled, Licensed and Licensed for Lease Only partners.
An enduring relationship is one that is similar to a marriage or civil partnership and has existed continuously for the last two years. Couples together for less than that cannot use the route as unmarried partners. Marrying or entering a civil partnership removes the two-year test.
What does Entitled for Work Only allow?
It allows the holder to work for anyone, or for themselves, without an employer holding a staffing permission. It does not allow free renting or buying in the Qualified housing market.
On work, the Regulations give Entitled for Work Only holders the appropriate status for any work (Regulation 22). Employers can take on as many people with the status as they wish, provided the business has a resident business licence. gov.je says a business licence will be granted to a holder for any proposed lawful enterprise. A partner who is not a British or Irish national also needs immigration permission, which is a separate process.
On housing, the holder may rent one Registered home in their own name. They may live in a Qualified home alongside an eligible partner who holds Permanent Entitled, Entitled, Licensed or Licensed for Lease Only status, and buy one jointly on the terms below. Social rented housing and assisted purchase need Entitled or Permanent Entitled status in the applicant’s own right. First-time-buyer concessions need it too, or an Entitled spouse or civil partner who has never owned a home.
A couple arriving on one Licensed role can therefore live in a Qualified home on the strength of the Licensed holder’s status. Once Entitled for Work Only is allocated, the other partner can take any job. For the full housing grid, see the housing licence page.
Can an Entitled for Work Only partner buy a home?
Only jointly, and only with a partner whose status permits the purchase. The partner on Entitled for Work Only status cannot buy on their own.
| The eligible partner holds | What the two of you can do together |
|---|---|
| Permanent Entitled or Entitled | Buy one home jointly. How the ownership is split does not matter |
| Licensed | Buy one home jointly. Both of you must be on the purchase |
| Licensed for Lease Only | Rent only. Joint purchase is not available with this partner status |
In every case both partners must intend to live in the home as their main residence. The source is Schedule 2 of the Regulations read with the gov.je housing guidance. If the eligible partner’s status ends, the right to occupy a Qualified home with them can end too, so ask an advocate about the sequence before a purchase and not after.
What happens if the relationship ends or your partner leaves?
The applicant can qualify for Entitled for Work Only status for up to five years after the relevant event, if they have stayed continuously resident in Jersey since. The relevant events are the eligible partner’s death, the end of the relationship, the eligible partner losing the qualifying status, or the eligible partner leaving Jersey (Regulation 9).
For a marriage or civil partnership, the end of the relationship means dissolution. Separation does not start the five years. For an enduring relationship, the five years run from when it ends.
Neither the 2025 Regulations nor gov.je’s guidance says what happens to the status when the five years end. Ask Employment, Social Security and Housing in writing before relying on it beyond that point. The years spent in Jersey still count towards the applicant’s own residency record, because the record accrues from the day they became ordinarily resident, whatever status they held.
Two of gov.je’s four hardship guidelines for Entitled status fit this situation. Both are discretionary. Relationship-breakdown grants usually carry conditions, and death-of-partner grants may. One covers the end of a relationship of at least five years: the applicant must hold Entitled for Work Only status, must have lived continuously in Jersey for at least five years, and must have lived in Qualified accommodation with the eligible partner and the children, and the children under 18 must live with them at least half the time. The other covers the death of a partner who held Entitled or Permanent Entitled status, after at least five years’ continuous residence. Both are safety nets for particular circumstances.
When does Entitled for Work Only status end?
It ends if you leave Jersey and your breaks in residence total more than 12 months, whether continuous or in aggregate (Regulation 11). After that you return as Standard, and your residency record starts again at zero. A grant on hardship grounds can also end if a condition attached to it stops being met.
The Minister can change the 12-month limit by Order, so treat it as the current figure. It is a short allowance compared with Entitled status, which survives breaks of up to five years. A partner who takes a long posting abroad should check the allowances in time away from Jersey before leaving.
Who should check the paperwork first?
Anyone planning a move with a partner should check, before anyone resigns, which status each person will hold and from what date. Each partner’s status is allocated separately, and permission to work follows only once the status is allocated.
Individual status applications go to the customer service of Employment, Social Security and Housing. The Business Hub, also part of that department, handles business and staffing licences. If the applicant will arrive on Standard status first, the residential status page shows what that means for the household until the application is made.
Rules were checked against gov.je and the 2025 Regulations on 21 October 2026. Check any date with gov.je before you act on it. We coordinate relocations and do not give regulated legal advice, so take independent regulated advice on your own position.