ARMY HEROES HIT BY £2300 VISA SCANDAL
ROW OVER SOARING COST OF LEAVE TO REMAIN
Commonwealth troops serving in units including the Scots Guards and the Royal Regiment of Scotland are being forced to pay an “extortionate” rise in fees to secure permanent UK residency once they have been discharged.
Dur ing military service, personnel are exempt from UK immigration controls but the benefit is removed when they leave the Armed Forces.
Men and women discharged after four years are eligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain in the country. But they now face soaring visa application fees that have risen by 127 per cent in the past five years from £1051 to £2389.
Anthony Metzer QC, who is representing those affected in a case against the Home Office and the Minist r y of Defence, said:
“Veterans are being forced t o pa y extortionate fees to retain their legal immigration status in the UK, despite being promised an indefinite right to remain when they were recruited.
“We are taking legal action against the Home Office and the MoD for failing to inform the servicemen and women of the processes that would have allowed them to stay.
“The act ions of the Government have led to some veterans being forced to leave the UK or remain and lose their jobs, home and their security.
“Many soldiers in the Scots Guards or Roya l Regiment of Scotland have a
Commonwealth background. If they are not granted their right to remain, it could discourage people from the Commonwealth from enlisting in future, which is not in our country’s interests.”
When leaving the forces, a private soldier – who earned £ 20,000 a year – with a partner and two children will be forced to pay almost £ 10,000 to continue to live in the UK. Veterans face deportation if they can’t pay.
There are a large number of foreign- born soldiers in Scots regiments. Men and women from Fiji, South Africa, New Zealand and Uganda are among those to have joined up. A report last month found the Home Office displayed aspects of “institutional racism” in the way it dealt with immigrants in the Windrush scandal.
F o rme r soldier and ex-Glasgow Labour MP Paul Sweeney said: “Treating Commonwealth soldiers like second- class citizens after they have served our country is one of the last appalling relics of colonialism.
“The Windrush scandal and ongoing examples of the Home Off ice’s hostile environment demonstrate our asylum and immigration system is badly failing and appallingly lacking in both compassion and efficiency. The very least we can do in recognition of their service is to grant them and their families the right to full British citizenship.”
Calling for fees to be axed, Mark Bibbey, chief executive of charity Poppyscotland, added: “This is a poor way of saying ‘thank you’ to people we encouraged to leave their countries to come and serve.”
A UK Government spokesman said: “We are committed to upholding our obligations to ensure that no one who is serving, or who has served, or their family members are disadvantaged as a result of their service.
“The MoD makes clear to foreign and Commonwealth recruits into the Forces the process by which they and their families can attain settlement in the UK and the costs involved.”