The British government has agreed to announce a new policy on the right of Gurkhas to settle in the country within a month, after being forced to review the issue by protesting veterans, a spokesman said Thursday.
The Nepalese former soldiers have staged repeated protests seeking an injunction obliging ministers to carry out a decision last September that approved extending the right to stay in Britain permanently to all Gurkha veterans.
"We have always been clear that where there is a compelling case Gurkha soldiers and their families should be considered for settlement," a Home Office spokesman said in a statement.
"The revised guidance is currently under consideration and will be published by April 24. Since 2004, over 6,000 former Gurkhas and family members have been granted settlement in the UK under immigration rules. "We are determined to get the guidance right to ensure that it is fair to all Gurkhas. This has involved consultation across government." Earlier, the Gurkhas lawyer Edward Fitzgerald told Londons High Court that the two sides had reached agreement "on almost everything," and that Home Secretary Jacqui Smith would soon announce the new policy.
At the moment, only Gurkha soldiers who retired after 1997 - when their base was moved from Hong Kong to Britain - have the automatic right to stay permanently. All other foreign soldiers in the British army can settle in Britain after four years service. Around 3,500 Gurkhas currently serve in the British Army, including in Iraq and Afghanistan, where two of the Nepalese soldiers have died this month.
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