However, two prominent MPs, both of whom served in the Army, said that the Government should also have included spouses and children in the new policy.
In a joint statement, the Tories’ Johnny Mercer and Labour’s Dan Jarvis said they “remain concerned that families continue to be sidelined”.
The new policy amounted only to a 25 per cent discount on a typical visa fee bill of £10,000 for a family of four, according to the MPs.
“Men and women from the Commonwealth and Nepal have a long and proud history of leaving their homes so we can sleep safely in ours.
“It is deeply unjust for the Government to profit from them exercising their right to remain in the country for which they risked their lives.”
Paying tribute to the “thousands of brave men and women” from overseas who have served in the military”, Priti Patel said “fundamental principles” of immigration rules meant that the policy could not be extended to whole family groups.
“You can’t just do it carte blanche for the Armed Forces without having knock-on repercussions for other aspects of immigration rules,” the Home Secretary said.
“Waiving the visa fee for those Commonwealth veterans and Gurkhas with six years’ service who want to settle here is a suitable way of acknowledging their personal contribution and service to our nation.”
Foreign dependants ‘are looked after’
Currently, there are more than 9,000 non-UK citizens serving in the Armed Forces from countries around the world including Australia, Canada, Fiji, Ghana, India, Jamaica, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, St Lucia and South Africa, many of whom may consider applying for indefinite leave to remain in the UK when their service ends.
Dependants of overseas soldiers are already given a five-year settlement to stay in the UK, as opposed to regular applicants who get only a year. They also do not have to pay the health surcharge, as others do, and are exempt from the Life in the UK and language tests.
Mr Wallace said it would be “fundamentally unfair” to pay for the families of foreign soldiers, but not pay for foreign nationals who are married to British soldiers.
Foreign dependants “are already at an advantage compared to other dependants of foreign workers in the public sector”, he said, adding: “They are looked after.”
