I got a message from a Commonwealth soldier, originally from Ghana his name is Ntim and he’s just been given British citizenship after five years in the army. He sent me this photo of himself. So I phoned him.
In his firing line is the British immigration service who say that it may take longer than he hoped, to secure citizenship for his family.
He thinks this is unfair. I had a look around and found that the army may be making it easier for dependents of commonwealth soldiers to get citizenship.
There were complaints last year about Home office rules which mean soldiers have to serve a minimum of four years before they get an automatic right to stay in the UK.
In response to these charges a home office statement to the BBC read ..
“Foreign and commonwealth citizens have long made an extraordinary contribution to the British Armed Forces. To reflect that contribution we have complete flexibility to grant soldiers settlement earlier than four years whenever there are strong reasons or a discharge through injury.”
Coincidentally, the Commonwealth is 60 years old today.
A poll has found that young people in Britain are finding it less relevant.
I just thought that a question comes out of both these stories, which is whether Britain has done enough now for its’ former colonies?
Is there a practical need to continue having a commonwealth?
If you have any words of support for Ntim, if perhaps you have had to go through a long and laborious process to gain citizenship yourself and can sympathise, or if you have another view you’d like to share, please post your comments here, they’d be very welcome.
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April 3, 2009 at 11:07 am
nina robinson
From
Bonita Jamaica on Your Story Flickr group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/bbcyourstory/discuss/72157615190992230/
Read the captioned story today. Hope the good soldier gets his family to Britain in a timely fashion. It’s not easy for immigrants when they are in foreign lands without their family members.
Now to the question: Does Britain Still Owe Its Former Colonies?
The answer is a big yes. But the problem is that Britain is not in a position to help in the way they should or perhaps would like to. The reality is that Britain herself is in an economic crisis, with the rest of the globe. It was a wise person who said ‘make hay while the sun shine’. Britain is guilty of not making hay (helping former colonies enough) when the sun was shining. Britain should have created a body with primary focus on working with former colonies toward development when it could. So many of these countries are hurting with nowhere to turn for help. Britain has not done sufficiently to teach these countries to fish.
Still, we love Britain. It’s a great country.