OP just go for it, it’s a real privileged position you are in getting to move there, not everyone can just move to jersey whenever they fancy it, the license system is a little complex for good reasons, otherwise it would probably become an island of retirees, with no industry.
we lived there for 5 years because of my partner working for a company that set up there, been back 4 years now and I’ve only just got over leaving, and I didn’t want to move there in the first place, when I first flew over it, I said ‘is that it!’ 😂. However in the end there was more positives for us to return to the uk than there were to staying.
we had a J cat licence, so we could buy over there, but as nice as our house was, there is no way you would look at it and think it was worth as much as it was, we were on the west, which is very expensive for property, but if you like 60s architecture, you’ll love it 😂. Be warned though, all your hundreds of closest friends and family will crawl from the woodwork to stay in your new B&B, I literally had change over days, it got ridiculous.
we went over pretty well off, but it’s an expensive place, and our money gradually drained, we did break even on returning, but bear in mind, it’s VERY expensive.
people are friendly, but it is a fairly transient island, so it may take a while to find people who you can call friends, it took us years to finally get to know the neighbours. There is not so much a ‘them and us’ thing going on, but there are those who believe that jersey has changed for the worse, interestingly, the most judgmental and unfriendly ones are those who moved there from the uk years ago, they always seem to want to pull the drawbridge up behind them. The tourist industry has been overtaken by the financial industry and gradually parts of Jersey are turning into sandbanks, and it will continue that way I think, so will eventually be unreachable for many on the outside who don’t have much money, but again not just anyone can move there on a whim, you have to have a licence. One local who worked for JT said that he wants to move to Cornwall, because it reminds him of the jersey he grew up in. There is a MASSIVE rich poor divide, we were on the rich side, but talking to people in pubs, many who moved there in the 1960s and 70s were in quite a poor position, one guy who worked in a pub said he would love to come back to the uk now, but just can’t afford to, he was in his 60s and renting a bedsit.
Try if you can to show your kids the world, lots of kids from there grow up in a bubble and do in my opinion have a very privileged and protected view of the world, they are extremely privileged to grow up there, it’s safe, protected and in that respect a bit insular, but just go for it, you will tire of it at times and you may even move from there, but it’s an opportunity few get, so just try it. However do read all the more negative advice on here, aside from the unfriendly thing, which isn’t true, the rest that I’ve read on here is, everyone has made some excellent points. Now go become a Jersey Bean!