We were determined to get the guidance right to ensure that it is fair to all Gurkhas. Officials in the UK Border Agency consulted across Government.
The consultation process and the issues involved were complex. There was a need to consider issues such as how many former Gurkhas would want to settle, the impact on communities and affordability.
As a result of the High Court decision of 30 September 2008 the UK Border Agency issued revised guidance on 24 April 2009 for considering settlement applications from former Gurkhas. We estimated that approximately 10,000 former Gurkhas and their families would benefit from the new guidance and would be entitled to settle in the United Kingdom should they choose to do so. These estimates were based on an analysis of records held by the Ministry of Defence.
On 21 May 2009 the Home Secretary announced that any former Gurkha with more than four years service who had been discharged from the Brigade of Gurkhas before 1 July 1997 would be eligible for settlement in the UK. We estimate that 36,000 former Gurkhas are now eligible to apply to come to the United Kingdom although we believe that not all of those would want to settle here.
(2) how many Gurkha legacy cases had been concluded by 31 May 2009.
Legacy cases are recorded by nationality. It is not possible to disaggregate the number of Nepalese cases that may involve Gurkhas without the examination of individual cases at disproportionate cost.
The estimate of the number of former Gurkha soldiers and the dependants of such soldiers eligible for residency in the UK following the recent change in policy was not broken down by the period of service of the former Gurkha soldiers.
The estimates were based on the known age profile of former Gurkha soldiers and the estimated age profile of their spouses and dependants.