Calls for ID cards for French visitors to continue

A politician wants to make sure French day trippers can still use ID cards to travel to Jersey after new rules came in for European passport holders.

Since 2 April, most have needed an Electronic Travel Authorisation before getting to the UK border.

French day trippers coming directly to Jersey will not need one until at least the autumn and deputy Sir Philip Baillache is asking the home affairs minister to extend the scheme beyond then.

In a report to the States, Baillache said rules which came into force post-Brexit meant French citizens visiting Jersey could no longer use their identity cards, but instead required a passport.

"The result was that the number of French day-trippers plummeted," he said.

"There is no doubt that the increase in numbers during 2023 and 2024 was due to action taken by the minister's predecessor, deputy Helen Miles, to permit French national identity cards to be used for travel instead of, or as well as, a passport.

"The scheme has worked for two years without any untoward consequences, and there is no reason to believe that it would not continue to do so if the dispensation remained in place," he added.

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