Commonwealth Veterans Take Legal Action Against Government Over Immigration Issue

After facing financial troubles, fear of deportation and job losses due to the government’s unclear rules about their immigration status, eight Commonwealth veterans from Fiji are taking legal action against the Home Office and Ministry of Defence.

Commonwealth veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan are claiming they endured systemic failure to support soldiers with complicated immigration rules after discharge, according to The Guardian.

The soldiers allege they were subject to joblessness, homelessness and being labeled as illegal immigrants due to the alleged failures of the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to help them understand their immigration status.

Each of the Iraq and Afghanistan Commonwealth veterans who have launched the group action served the British army for between seven and 12 years. The claimants say their immigration status challenges caused them to feel abandoned by the country they served for years. 

There may be hundreds of Commonwealth veterans who endured the same circumstances according to military charities. 

The guidelines for Commonwealth-born military service members established by the MoD cite that they are eligible for “indefinite leave to remain” in the U.K., according to The Guardian.

But the soldiers filing the group action say the army did not notify them they were required to prepare an application to stay in the U.K. upon being discharged. The claimants say if there are such strict guidelines, they should be clearly explained to all non-British veterans before they are discharged from the army. 

Most of the claimants expected that after four years or more of military service, the process for immigration was guaranteed and automatic when the Home Office stamped the soldiers’ passport.

When military personnel gets their passports stamped after joining the military it included a note that the soldiers were excluded from restrictions on immigration.

Specifically, the claimants’ passports state they are “not subject to any condition or limitation on the period of permitted stay in the U.K.,” as reported by The Guardian. Moreover, the stamps allegedly did not have an expiration date but were deemed worthless when the veterans were discharged. Yet according to the soldiers, they were not notified. 

When the veterans discovered they were violating the U.K.’s immigration rules, they faced the cost of adjusting and adapting. 

The cost of immigrant visa applications has dramatically increased from £1,051 in 2015 to £2,389 in 2020, according to The Guardian. Now, it would cost a discharged veteran with a spouse and two children almost £10,000 to remain in the U.K. Most veterans cannot afford the fees on their modest pensions.

As a result of the veterans’ immigration status, they faced losing jobs or living covert lives avoiding authorities due to fear of deportation.

Some Commonwealth veterans were afraid to seek help from medical professionals for fear of being referred to immigration enforcement. Others returned to their country of origin, out of fear of deportation, although they were legally allowed to remain in the U.K.

Most of the Commonwealth veterans thought the immigration process would be automatic after their military service.

The group’s lawyers say the application to apply for staying in the U.K. was hazy, according to a Guardian report. In some cases, the soldiers’ passport stamps that exempted them from immigration guidelines for their time serving the military were not cancelled upon discharge, as the lawyers allege they should have been.

A crowdfunding campaign has been launched to help offset the cost of the the Commonwealth veterans’ legal process. 

“The Home Office and Ministry of Defence work closely with our foreign and Commonwealth recruits to make sure they are aware of how they and their families can attain settlement in the U.K. and the costs involved,” a government spokesperson said, according to The Guardian. “This includes offering financial advice, savings packages, and loans to help personnel pay for visa costs should they wish to settle in the U.K. Whilst legal proceedings are ongoing, we cannot comment on these cases.”

What do you think will be the outcome of the legal action being taken by the Commonwealth veterans? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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