Residency record · Broken, paused and continuous residence
Time away from Jersey and your status
A Jersey residency record is the running count of years of ordinary residence that decides Entitled for Work Only (five years), Entitled (ten) and Permanent Entitled (25) status. Time outside Jersey is treated in one of three ways: it counts, it pauses the record, or it breaks it. A break resets the count to zero, and on some statuses it ends the status as well. Only people born in Jersey or who arrived as children keep their time towards Permanent Entitled.
- Short breaks
- 10 weeks
- Entitled for Work Only
- Lost after more than 12 months
- Entitled
- Lost after more than 5 years
- Permanent Entitled
- Never lost on absence
in any rolling 12 months, counted as residence
of breaks, continuous or in total
of breaks, continuous or in total
unless it was obtained by deception
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 Jersey thresholds change, and superseded numbers stay in circulation for years.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.
How is time outside Jersey treated?
Time outside Jersey is treated in one of three ways: continuous, paused or broken. The category decides whether the days count, are ignored, or end the record.
Continuous residence. The time counts as ordinary residence, usually because the reason cannot be met in Jersey. Medical treatment is the clearest case.
Paused residence. The time does not count, but it leaves no gap. The record picks up where it stopped. A secondment is the usual example.
Broken residence. Everything else. The record resets to zero, and depending on your status, the status itself may end.
Under continuous and paused residence, one condition recurs. You must be present and ordinarily resident in Jersey immediately before and after the absence, so the allowances do not cover leaving Jersey for good. The count itself starts when you become ordinarily resident.
Which absences are allowed?
Ten weeks in any rolling 12 months counts, provided you are ordinarily resident in Jersey immediately before and after. A short list of longer absences counts or pauses the record, and anything outside the allowances is a break. This table is our summary of the rules in gov.je’s guidance for individuals, as checked on 21 October 2026.
| Absence | Treated as | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Short breaks and holidays | Counts | 10 weeks in total in any rolling 12 months |
| Medical treatment that cannot be had in Jersey, or sudden illness abroad | Counts | No time limit, but tied directly to the treatment |
| Full-time study at a registered establishment | Counts | A child: any length. An adult: 5 years in total, longer at discretion |
| A child in the care of the Minister, placed off-island | Counts | No time limit while in care |
| Overseas service with the Forces or a Jersey overseas office, and the partner and children who go too | Counts | For the duration of the appointment |
| Approved work secondment or work opportunity outside Jersey | Pauses | Up to 3 years per absence, two absences, 5 years in total |
| Caring for a parent, child or sibling with evidenced needs, as sole or one of two main carers | Pauses | 12 months in total |
| Approved project with a registered charity | Pauses | 2 years, once |
| Compulsory military service required by law in your home country | Pauses | Once, no time limit |
| An extended break, for any reason | Pauses | 12 months, once |
| A custodial sentence imposed by a Jersey court | Pauses | For the sentence |
| Anything not covered above | Breaks | The record resets to zero. gov.je names discretion only for study beyond five years and for caring for someone other than a parent, child or sibling |
Most of the pausing categories ask you to show a settled purpose in Jersey and to keep links with the island. gov.je’s example for the work category is an absence that lets you develop a skill Jersey can use. Approval may be required for some of these. Where an absence is not in the table, the guidance treats it as a break, apart from the two discretionary cases named in the last row. Ask Employment, Social Security and Housing in writing before assuming an absence will count or break the record.
What does each status lose if you leave?
A break always resets the residency record, but it ends a status only past a limit that differs by status.
Permanent Entitled is never lost on absence. You can leave and return at any time and still hold it.
Entitled is lost when your breaks total more than five years, continuous or added together (Regulation 7). Below that, you keep the status, but the count towards Permanent Entitled returns to zero. People born in Jersey, or who arrived as children, keep the time they have built up towards Permanent Entitled regardless of breaks.
Entitled for Work Only is lost when breaks total more than 12 months (Regulation 11). Of the three residence-based statuses, it has the least slack. Partners and Entitled for Work covers the partners who hold it.
Licensed and Licensed for Lease Only follow the job and the residence. Under Regulations 13 and 15, the status ends when you stop being employed by the business to do the licensed work, or when a condition of the allocation stops being met. gov.je’s guidance adds that it is also lost if you are no longer ordinarily resident in Jersey. Any absence has to sit within that ongoing employment.
Standard is the status you return to. gov.je says it is reinstated whenever you take up ordinary residence again, with the record at zero.
Under Regulation 19, anyone who loses or has a status revoked becomes Standard, unless the Minister is satisfied that exceptional circumstances justify keeping the old status or granting another one. The Minister can change the five-year and 12-month limits by Order, so treat them as the current figures.
What changes if you came on a time-limited work permit?
If you came on a time-limited immigration work permit and the permission was not extended before you left, leaving the island always creates a break. The sequence therefore matters.
Without an extension in place, gov.je says leaving always creates a break, which on its face leaves no room for the ten-week allowance, a holiday included. gov.je does not say how an extended permit is treated, so ask Employment, Social Security and Housing in writing before you travel. The immigration permission and the Control of Housing and Work position are separate systems, which is why work permits and visas sits alongside this page. For someone on a licensed role, the home is tied to the status as well. What happens to a Qualified home when Licensed status ends.
What should you do before a long absence?
Work out which row of the table the absence falls into, and get confirmation in writing before you go. Some of the allowances depend on approval, and gov.je does not describe a way to repair a gap afterwards.
Three practical suggestions, none of them a gov.je rule, help. Keep the dates of each absence, with evidence of why you left. Keep your Jersey tenancy or ownership, and your links with the island, while you are away, since gov.je asks you to show links. And decide in advance which category you are relying on, because the allowances are narrow and the reasons must be genuine. Residential status explained shows what each status gives up at the point you lose it.
Rules were checked against gov.je and the 2025 Regulations on 21 October 2026. Put any absence to gov.je before you rely on it. We coordinate relocations and do not give regulated legal advice, so take independent regulated advice on your own position.