London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Commonwealth veterans accuse UK of leaving them in immigration limbo

Ex-soldiers are taking action against MoD and Home Office over alleged systemic failures

A group of soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan are taking legal action against the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence over an alleged systemic failure to assist them with complex, unaffordable immigration rules on discharge, leaving them classified as illegal immigrants, facing unemployment and homelessness and fearing deportation.

In the unprecedented group action taken against the two government departments, the group of Commonwealth-born veterans, each of whom served between seven and 12 years in the British army, say immigration difficulties have left them feeling betrayed by the country they served. Military charities say hundreds more are similarly affected.

MoD rules state that Commonwealth-born service personnel are eligible for indefinite leave to remain in the UK after discharge if they have served four years. But the claimants state that the army failed to inform them that they needed to make an immediate application to the Home Office for leave to remain in the UK on discharge, despite a clear MoD requirement that the process should be explained to all non-British veterans in the period before they leave the army.

Most assumed that after four years of service, the immigration process was automatic; the Home Office stamped their passports on joining the military with a note stating that they were exempt from immigration restrictions, and that they were “not subject to any condition or limitation on the period of permitted stay in the UK”. The stamps were not marked with an expiry date but nevertheless became invalid on discharge; veterans say they were not informed.

When they discovered, with the tightening of the Home Office’s “hostile environment” regulations after 2012, that they were in breach of immigration rules, they struggled to adapt themselves, mainly because of the cost of regularising their situation. Home Office visa application fees have risen sharply from £1,051 in 2015 to the current fee of £2,389. This means a service leaver and their partner with two children would have to pay nearly £10,000 to continue to live in the UK, an unaffordable sum for most on army pensions.

As a result of immigration problems, some lost their jobs, while others chose to live semi-clandestine lives, avoiding contact with the authorities, afraid that an immigration application could be rejected and they could be detained and removed from the UK. One family was visited at home by immigration officers. Some have been too scared to seek medical help, in case the NHS refers them to immigration enforcement. Others have chosen to return to their country of birth rather than risking detention, despite having the legal right to remain.

Their concerns have been exacerbated by the well-publicised 2013 case of Filimone Lacanivalu, who was arrested and detained when he tried to rectify his immigration status after discharge despite nine years of service, including two tours of Afghanistan. His situation was only resolved when the then home secretary, Theresa May, intervened 48 hours before his scheduled deportation to Fiji.

The current action involves eight former soldiers, who were all recruited to the army from Fiji, but the lawyers believe hundreds of ex-service personnel are similarly affected. The armed forces employ about 4,500 Commonwealth citizens; recruitment in Commonwealth countries has recently been stepped up “to build on the long-held links Britain’s military has with Commonwealth countries”, according to the MoD.

“I gave the British army nearly 13 years of my life and I fought in war-torn zones. We were given reason to expect that we could remain indefinitely after four years of service,” said one of the claimants, who are not being named. “The careless way in which HM Forces treated me and many foreign national soldiers is very unfair and completely without any regard to the service we have given to this country.”

His immigration uncertainty has left him feeling fearful for years. “This has been an undignified existence that is so contrary to the immense pride with which I once served Queen and country.”

Another claimant who served in Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan, where he nearly died, worked for National Rail on discharge, until he was told that immigration checks were going to made be on all staff and realised his papers were not in order. Afraid of detention and deportation, he left the company and has been doing occasional cash-in-hand jobs as he attempts to resolve his situation. “I served Her Majesty’s armed forces for nine years and suffered the psychological impact of my experiences to this day. I feel that the least the army could have done is to have briefed me about what I needed to do to apply to remain in the UK after being discharged,” he said.

This sense of betrayal was echoed by a third claimant, who said: “It is so unfair for veterans to have to suffer the indignity of being vulnerable to being forcibly removed from the country that we so loyally served, especially when we are in this situation because of oversights on the part of army during the discharge process.”

An outline of proposed litigation has been delivered to the government, alleging that both departments failed to follow their own guidance and duties at discharge, with instances of incorrect immigration advice being given to the soldiers. Departing Commonwealth soldiers were given “very little guidance on the steps required” to obtain legal immigration status in Britain, it says. Moreover, “the extortionate and unaffordable costs of the Home Office fees have prolonged the state of limbo that our clients and other veterans have endured”, the summary states.

Vinita Templeton, the lawyer bringing the action on behalf of eight men, who has been working on this issue for eight years, said: “I have seen unimaginable suffering by servicemen. Their state of limbo since learning that their immigration status is actually unresolved, sometimes years later, has brought about loss of jobs, fear of accessing public services, and for some, homelessness.”

Anthony Metzer QC, who is working with Templeton, said: “Our clients have been severely let down by the MoD and the Home Office”. Lawyers want the government to acknowledge that the alleged failings occurred and grant the veterans indefinite leave to remain for free.

A government spokesperson said there would be no comment on ongoing legal proceedings, but added: “The Ministry of Defence make 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.

“The government highly values the service of all members of the armed forces, including Commonwealth nationals. We are committed to upholding our obligations under the armed forces covenant, to ensure that no one who is serving, or who has served, or their family members are disadvantaged as a result of their service.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×