Afghanistan: Refugees

(asked on 15th May 2023) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential benefits of allowing Afghan nationals living in the UK who came under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy to enrol in HM Armed Forces.


Answered by
Andrew Murrison Portrait
Andrew Murrison
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
This question was answered on 18th May 2023

Individuals with Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK have no immigration restrictions on their employment, however, under section 340 of the Armed Forces Act 2006, the right to enlist in the UK Armed Forces is restricted to British (British citizen, British Overseas Citizen, British Overseas Territory Citizen or British National (Overseas) Citizen), Irish, or Commonwealth citizens, as either sole or dual nationals. The only exception to this legislation is the special and unique arrangement permitting Nepalese citizens to enlist in the Brigade of Gurkhas.

Afghans relocated under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy, and any other migrants to the UK, would only be eligible to enlist in the UK Armed Forces if they applied for and obtained British nationality or were a dual Commonwealth or Irish national.

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