Hundreds of Commonwealth military veterans who risked their lives serving in the UK armed forces face spiralling debts after being forced to pay “exorbitant” visa fees to remain in the country after their discharge, campaigners have said.

Before Commonwealth Day on Monday, the Royal British Legion is calling on the government to scrap the fees as a matter of urgency, saying it is scant thanks for veterans.

The fees for indefinite leave to remain have risen by 127% in five years to £2,389 per person, amounting to almost £10,000 for a family of four. Since their introduction in 2003, the fees have risen by 1,441%. If veterans cannot pay, or their application fails, they can face deportation.

The charity said the government must address the issue as a matter of urgency as the Ministry of Defence aims to increase recruitment from Commonwealth countries – mainly in Africa, the Caribbean, and from Fiji – to 1,300 a year.

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Many face desperate financial problems on discharge, sometimes paying the fees on credit cards, but as they are unable to work or claim benefits while their applications are processed, amass huge debts, the charity said. In a letter to the immigration minister, Caroline Nokes, it calls on the government to grant a waiver of fees in the next parliamentary session and abolish the fees altogether after that.

“These Commonwealth veterans are facing a desperate situation,” said Charles Byrne, director general of the Royal British Legion. “They have left their homeland and given years of loyal service to the United Kingdom. They should be able to continue living in the UK with their families without incurring significant financial costs.

“This is a poor way of saying thank-you to people we encouraged to leave their countries to come and serve in the British armed forces. As Commonwealth Day approaches, we urge the home secretary to take action to help Commonwealth military veterans … and abolish all visa application fees.”

Each year, around 500 Commonwealth personnel leave the armed forces and are faced with these costs, or the possibility of deportation. In 2017, around 7.1% of army recruits were from Commonwealth countries. While serving, they are exempt from UK immigration controls, but exemption is removed upon discharge. Those who have served more than four years are eligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain.

The British Legion is asking people to support the campaign by writing to their MP. Previous successful campaigns have focused on the settlement rights of Gurkhas and Afghan interpreters who supported UK troops in Afghanistan.

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Andy Pike, the Legion’s public policy manager, said: “If you are going to ask somebody to come here, risk their lives in service to this country, and everything else we ask of our armed forces, it’s only fair we allow them to stay. These are Commonwealth veterans who have done their time, who have served, and whom the nation owes a debt of gratitude to.”

‘I couldn’t work. I was sleeping in my car’

Paul, 27, came from Nigeria to the UK to study, but joined the Royal Logistics Corps after recruiters visited his university, erroneously believing that the army would pay for him to return to his studies after he had served. But on army exercises in Canada he contracted non-freezing cold injury, causing severe nerve damage to his hands and feet, and was medically discharged in 2017 after serving three years and eight months.

A father to UK-born twins, but separated from their mother, he was just short of the four years required to apply for residency, so had to apply first for limited leave to remain, and then again for indefinite leave to remain. It took more than two months to process his first application.

Paul, now studying law in the UK, said: “I wasn’t able to register with a GP, or get any help from the local authorities. I couldn’t work. I was sleeping in my car.

“It was hard, hard, hard. Because of my medical condition, I needed to have warm clothes on all the time, but all the ones that were issued to me during my service, I had to return after I left. So I was running my car with the heater on. My car was my home.

“I was struggling to feed myself. I would go two or three days without eating proper food, or anything at all. I was depending on family back home to send me money just to feed myself.”

He thought about returning to Nigeria, but that would mean never seeing his young twins. “I wanted to be part of their lives, and I didn’t want to go back home and never be able to see them.”

He paid the first set of fees out of his army lump sum, but had no money to pay the second, and turned to the British Legion for financial help. “I was desperate. I had two options: to make the application, or not to be part of my children’s upbringing. Without the British Legion, I would probably be somewhere in Nigeria, but not being able to see my children, my life would not be worth living any more.”

With the charity’s help, he was eventually granted indefinite leave to remain, but he feels unfairly treated by the Home Office following his military service for the UK.

“I didn’t get any thanks for it. If I had stayed a student, I would have remained on a student visa, pending a Home Office decision. But when you are a Commonwealth soldier, as soon as you leave the military, you have no rights, no thanks. It’s horrible.”