Margaret Gilmour, head of Gurkha policy at UK´s defense ministry, and Col. GD Hedges of the Brigade of Gurkhas of the UK Army, told various former Gurkha soldiers´ organizations this week that the final decision over the issue would be taken by April.
“They informed us on behalf of their government,” United British Gurkha Ex-Servicemen Association of Nepal (UBGESAN)´s president Prem Rai, who also met Gilmour and Hedge, told myrepublica.com. “We are happy that we do not have to wait for long.
Former Gurkha soldiers´ organizations have been demanding that the UK government permit Gurkha soldiers´ widows and children above above-18 years to settle in Britain.
Revising its 2004 decision to provide residential visas to only those Gurkha soldiers who retired after July 1, 1997-- the day the UK Army left Hong Kong -- the UK government on May 21, 2009 had decided to allow Gurkhas, who served in the UK army for at least four years, to apply for settlement in Britain.
“This policy allows very few widows to live in Britain,” Rai said. “Even those widows whose husbands died on battleground or during active service may not be able to produce required documents.”
The UK government has denied settlement rights to Gurkha soldiers´ children above 18 years stating that they children above the age of 18 were no longer family members. Gurkha soldiers have flayed this decision.
In Nepal, children generally live with their parents regardless of age. Gurkha soldiers maintain that the UK government´s policy to not allow children above 18 years to live in Britain disregards Nepal´s unique culture of joint family.
According to Rai, over 5,000 widows of Gurkha soldiers will be deprived of settlement rights if the UK government stuck to its policy. Until May 21 in 2009, only about 6,000 Gurkha soldiers and their families had settled in the UK due to the cut-off date of July 1, 1997.
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