After 20 years of living on this fair Island, I finally applied for a Residence Card.

Why should I do that? Well, it starts with Housing Qualifications here. Residential Status In essence, when we moved we bought a No Qualofications house [a rare item, and which lay outwith the normal residency rules). However, now I'm widowed I am left with managing a detached 4-storey house with 2/3 acre of land. And there is the prospect (at 80yo) of needing to downsize to something on the open market in the future.

All I needed to do was prove 10 years continuous residence in the Island. After a bit of emailing with "Employment, Social Security and Housing" the proof was simple ... download 10 years of .pdf monthly statements for my Amex card! It took a few hours downloading 120 statements, but it's all there; mainly Lady T8191's grocery shopping at Waitrose! Even our various travels provided proof of our presence here every month at some point. Collected into annual folders, bundles in a .zip file and ... Bingo, I am now an Entitled resident of Jersey, after 20 years here!

Of course I will never be a Jerseyman. I will always be a foreign import! But I have always had the right to pay Tax & Rates and Vote.

Travel? Oh yes, Jet2 to LBA later this month. And BA to PHX in August, so I do still exist!