MORE than 10,500 people could be working in the island who are not yet locally qualified, according to the latest figures.

The Housing Department yesterday released its annual report giving a ‘snapshot’ of live Right to Work documents. The report also details the number of licences awarded in the year ending 31 March 2009.

The department says it is important to differentiate between documents ‘issued in a given period’ and ‘the overall number of live, or current, documents recorded by the department’.

Among the report highlights were that the department issued fewer licences for the period compared with the previous year, but the total number of live licences increased by 188.

The report also revealed that there were 10,677 live Right to Work documents at the end of the period, all of which were issued to people who were not qualified residents but who were entitled to live in the island on 31 March 2009.

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