Our so called caring government is excluding Ghurkas from becoming Citizens and residents of this Country, despite their having fought shoulder to shoulder with our own soldiers in conflicts from the Second World War, (in which 45,00 were killed), onwards, and indeed 3500 are still fighting in our army in Afghanistan and Iraq. The bravery and commitment of these guys to this Country cannot be questioned and since WW2 hundreds have given the supreme sacrifice that a soldier can give.

BBC Link

I ask that you take the time to sign the petition below to ensure that they are given the Justice they so richly deserve.

Justice For Gurkha's

Strangely enough myself and a few colleagues at work were discussing this today..

You may find it harsh I'm of no side.. perhaps the government could be more considerate but hey, it's Labour, wtf do you expect?

Although I say that if someone's willing to give their lives (i.e fight in a war) they should do so because it co-incides with their beliefs.. not to then use it as a reason to get into our country. We shouldn't be letting ANYONE in now, anyway.

Signed the petition just to help you make up numbers. I can just imagine Joanna Lumley (or however you spell her name) and her posh accent..

they gave their lifes to keep ours, if it wasn't for their hard work we would be nowhere today...

let em in i say: let them enjoy the recession too

What they did for us, they deserve to be in this country.

I signed it

Online petitions mean nothing. If you really feel strongly about this write to your local MP.

Quote from amp88 :

Online petitions mean nothing. If you really feel strongly about this write to your local MP.

True, the govt never listens to petitions, your local MP probrably wont listen either.

But I'm all for the cause.

Quote from amp88 :

Online petitions mean nothing. If you really feel strongly about this write to your local MP.

Yeah, and most of the times I tend to ignore them, but this one generally angers me more than anything else. I know that my Grandad served with the Gurkha's back in WW2, and if he was alive today he would be sick at the treatment of them....they deserve better.

FTR I have emailed my local MP and also to the minister in charge, Phill Woolas (immigration minister), through his constiuency site. Wasn't till after sending it said "Please note we're unable to deal with enquiries relating to his ministerial duties, please click here for those." This took me to the Home Office site, where I duplicated the email, only to find that there was no option pertaining to immigration. Eventually this wild goose change ended at the correct site, though:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/contact/contactspage/

'Feedback or complaints' seemed to be the better options, so did both.

Bloody hard to get hold of, these ministers.

Good stuff Mackie. Hope you get a lot of people using this page.

Sorry to drag this up again, but for those who don't want to sign the petition, then there is another option, I'll quote the part of the email that was sent to me from the campaign.

"Nick Clegg has agreed to put a vote to Parliament this Wednesday calling for a fair deal for Gurkhas. This vote on its own won't change the Government's ruling, but would be an overwhelming signal to the Government that they need to think again.

We need all MPs that support the Gurkha justice cause to turn up and vote for a proper deal for Gurkhas on Wednesday. Can I ask that you take a couple of minutes right now to ask your MP to do so?

You can send a message to your MP directly at www.theyworkforyou.com ask them to support the Gurkha Justice motion on Wednesday."

I have already got an email back from my MP, and he's said that he'll back the motion, not surprised considering he is also a Lib Dem, but this is not about political benefits, just a fight for justice.

Signed it. Although I say we leave em at the other end of the Channel Tunnel until the Swine Flu dies down.

A Small Victory For The Gurkha's

Damn right the Ghurkhas should be allowed to stay. 'if your willing to die for this country, then surely that gives you the right to live in this country'

The excuse now is that its not commercially viable to let them in due to... yes you guessed it the credit crunch. Why didnt we let them in when business was booming then?

They let every other tom dick and harry in.

The sickening thing is that any OTHER foreign/commonwealth soldier only has to serve for four years to be entitled to the right to live in the UK...a Gurkha has to serve TWENTY!!!
In France, the standard period for a foreign national to serve in the forces is five years, after which you are automatically entitled to French Citizenship.
No idea what the limit is in other countries, I can only speak from experience.



A tip to the Gurkhas...if the government doesn't grant you the full rights very soon, just come over anyway, and tell the Job Centre you have just got off a lorry from Calais and dont know where you come from and have no papers...they will then give you a house, a car, lots of furniture, a legal team to fight your endless appeals against deportation and £30,000 per year to live on.

Even more so sickening is that a Rifleman in the Gurkha regiment is only permitted to serve for 15 years. You wont find many a better soldier than a Gurkha. Their bravery, loyalty and willingness to get on with the job is second to none. They have served our country for nearly 200 years and this is how we repay them. Im ****ing sick of these pricks who are in power.

It's about time the British government stopped using Gurkhas as cheap blood sacrifices.

The questions is... how will the amended regulations/legislation look like? I hope the Brits follow the French example in this: 3 years of honourable service, then eligibility for citizenship or automatic grant of citizenship for wounds sustained in combat (which is the arrangement in the French Foreign Legion). Even if no citizenship is conceded, at least permanent residency visas should be granted.

Quote from halfblindgit :

We have got to balance our responsibilities to those who have served our country with the finance that we need to be able to meet these obligations - and not base our offer on money we cannot afford.

So we can afford to bail out various companies who are no longer financially viable, we can afford to fund people who have never paid in any tax in their life and we can afford to fun illegals (plus various other stupid schemes which just piss away money, like the several million spent setting up 3 miles of lane sharing motorway, a project which was axed a few days before the official unavailing anyway). But hard working chaps who put their balls on the line, well that is crossing the line.

A larger victory for the Gurkhas.


About bloody time too

This is just great result for the Gurkha's. They deserve this for what they did for the country.

I got my e-mail from Joanna Lumley after lunch, telling me that they won the battle. Which is nice.