Support Lance Corporal Rai & Our Gurkhas
They Have Supported Us
 For 200 Years

 "Bravest of the brave, most generous of the generous, never had a country more faithful friends than you."

Sir Ralph Turner MC, 3rd Queen Alexandra's Own Gurkha Rifles, describing the Gurkhas he fought with in World War I

BREAKING NEWS:  On Tuesday 30th September 2008, at 2 pm, at the Royal Courts of Justice, the Strand, London, Mr Justice Blake will hand down his judgment in the Gurkha immigration test case.  At 1.30 pm outside the front of the High Court entrance, hundreds of Gurkhas, along with 2 Gurkha VCs, and the famous actress, Joanna Lumley, will gather to await  the court's annoucement on the Gurkha test case.  After the judgment is handed down, Howe & Co Solicitors will make a press statement at the front of the Royal Courts of Justice entrance.

Visa Officers at the British Embassy in Kathmandu, Nepal, have rejected requests from British Army Gurkhas to come and settle in the United Kingdom.  Those rejected have included Tul Bahadur Pun VC (a Gurkha who won the Victoria Cross in World War II) and Lance Corporal Gyanendra Rai (a Gurkha seriously wounded by Argentine artillery at Bluff Cove, in the Falkland Islands in 1982).  British Visa Officers say that these brave Gurkhas do not have "strong ties" to the United Kingdom, despite years of service in the British Army. 

If you would like to support the Gurkha Army  Ex-Servicemen's Organisation (GAESO) and Howe & Co Solicitors' campaign to repay the debt this country owes to the brave men of the Brigade of Gurkhas, by allowing all our Gurkha heroes a right to come and settle in the UK (we should welcome them not abandon them) then please sign the petition on the 10 Downing Street website, here: PETITION.

You can also personally contact the Immigration Minister, Liam Byrne, and ask him to change the rules to allow all Gurkhas who retired before 1997 the AUTOMATIC right to live in Britain.  The Immigration Minister's email adddress is:

Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

You can also email words of support for the Brigade of Gurkhas and for Lance Corporal Rai to: support@vchero.co.uk . 

All your emails of support will be sent to the British Government and will also be placed in front of the Immigration Judge considering Lance Corporal Rai's appeal against the British Visa Officer's decision.

You can find out more detiailed information about the Gurkha heroes   Tul Bahadur Pun VC and Gyanendra Rai (including Lance Corporal Rai's first-hand account of how he was wounded in the Falklands), by reviewing the other pages on this website.

Why Support the Gurkhas?

The Gurkha regiments have loyally served the British people for nearly 200 years.  They have fought alongside their colleagues in the British Army in virtually every war or conflict during that period, from the First World War, Second World War, Korea, Borneo, Malaya, the Falklands, the First Gulf War.  In fact our Gurkhas are currently serving with British forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.. 

Of the 9 living holders* of  the Victoria Cross, one third of the living winners are Gurkhas (3 living recipients).  In all, 26 Victoria Crosses have been awarded to Gurkha Regiments for acts of extreme bravery in the face of the enemy (13 VCs having been awarded to Nepali Gurkhas). 6,500 Gurkhas have received military decorations for bravery. 

45,000 Gurkhas have died fighting for Britain.  150,000 Gurkhas have been seriously wounded on battlefields defending our freedom and way of life.  The Gurkhas have given 200 years loyal service to the British people, and asked for very little in return.

In fact, if there was a minute silence for every Gurkha wounded in World War II alone, we would have to stay silent for 2 weeks!

The Gurkhas have defended the British public for generations, now it is time to repay that debt by asking the British Government to treat our Gurkha veterans fairly and allow them to live with us, if they so wish.

^*An additional "Victoria Cross for New Zealand " was awarded to a New Zealand soldier in July 2007