It is sometimes easy to criticise the States of Guernsey for
various policies they have put in place – and sometimes that
criticism is rightly placed, but over the last few years the one
area that has received more criticism than anything else has been
the much maligned Population Management Law. So how fair is that
criticism and is the law still really needed?
At this point it is probably worth remembering what was in place
before in the Housing Licence system. As someone who moved to
Guernsey under the old regime being told that I may have to leave
after 5 years, but without any certainty as to whether I could stay
beyond that point it was a daunting decision. For all of the
criticisms that have been levelled at the Population Management
Law, the one thing that it has brought businesses is a far greater
degree of certainty with the introduction of the concept of an
approved list of "in-policy" roles is that if the job you
are applying for is on that list you will
