Stop the Service Charge: Our campaign to remove barriers for non-UK personnel and their families
We believe all Service personnel should have the right to be with their families.
The Royal British Legion and Poppyscotland are campaigning for the Government to scrap visa fees for the families of non-UK and Commonwealth personnel in the UK Armed Forces.
Families are an integral part of the UK Armed Forces community. They experience many of the stresses, strains and sacrifices of Service life, accompanying Service personnel on postings and supporting them through deployments.
Our non-UK and Commonwealth Armed Forces members couldn’t do what they do without their family support networks, yet families face high visa and settlement costs:
- Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) fees have risen from £155 in 2003 to £3,029 per person as of 9 April 2025.
- Bringing a spouse/partner and two children to the UK and then applying for ILR now costs a family £14,901, excluding extra expenses like travel, legal fees, and language and Life in the UK tests.
- While waiting for ILR, many families may have restricted access to public funds and support, putting their financial stability and well-being at risk.
Personnel from the Commonwealth and other overseas nations have played a crucial role in the UK Armed Forces throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. They currently comprise over 1 in 20 trained Regular personnel, and the UK Armed Forces continue to recruit non-UK nationals to fulfil technical and specialist roles.
We’ve been campaigning for change since 2019
- Following campaigning by RBL and Poppyscotland, in April 2022 the Government waived ILR fees for veterans who served six years or more, or who were medically discharged from service after less than six years.
- This was followed by the Government’s response to our ask about the Minimum Income Requirement (MIR), bringing the MIR for Serving personnel wanting to bring their families to the UK down to £23,496, which is the minimum Armed Forces salary in March 2024.
We welcome these changes as having significantly and positively impacted the lives of many Serving personnel from non-UK backgrounds. However, our campaign is far from over.
At the last election, the Government pledged to “scrap visa fees for non-UK veterans who have served for four or more years and their dependents”.
We are calling on the UK Government to fulfil its promise and remove barriers preventing families of non-UK and Commonwealth Armed Forces personnel from staying in the UK by waiving ILR fees.
Removing these fees would recognise the sacrifices and unique challenges the Armed Forces community faces. It would also enable the Government to fulfil its obligations under the Armed Forces Covenant, which is supposed to remove the disadvantages and barriers to family life faced by those who Serve.
Better information and support
There is sometimes insufficient support available through official channels on visas, and how they interact with other areas such as careers and family life. This can lead to personnel shouldering additional costs from failed applications and involuntary return migration to their home country on transition.
This is why we also call on the Government to improve information and support for non-UK and Commonwealth personnel at recruitment and transition.
Non-UK and Commonwealth recruits across the Tri-Services should receive comprehensive, consistent and accessible information about their rights and entitlements and should not have to face additional costs from failed applications and involuntary return migration to their home country on transition.
We will continue to campaign on this matter and keep our supporters posted on further developments via this webpage and our Campaigner Community.
Stop the Service Charge
To discuss this campaign further, or if you would like to share your story of being affected by visa fees as a non-UK or Commonwealth Serving personnel or veteran, please contact campaigns@britishlegion.org.uk.
Other campaigns
Our campaigns look to improve the lives of everyone in the Armed Forces community and make sure their voice is heard
Find out more