A KENT-based former Gurkha who served in the British Army for 15 years does not dare visit his seven-year-old son in Nepal for fear he will not be allowed back into Britain.

Bisma Rai, 35, of Cross Street, Maidstone, has not seen his son Bibek for a year. He said: "He always asks me: 'When are you coming to take me from here to the UK?' He is missing his mother and sister a lot."

Ex-Gurkha Mr Rai served as a Lance Corporal in the Queen's Gurkha Engineers, attached to the Maidstone-based 36 Engineer Regiment, until he retired a year ago. He has not yet been told if he can stay in the UK permanently.

Gurkhas are campaigning to get automatic British citizenship when they retire from the Army.

Mr Rai said: "I am still waiting for the Home Office decision on whether they're ready to give us naturalisation. They're still saying it's under review.

"If I get any sort of answer from them I can go to Nepal and visit my son, or I can bring him here."

Bibek is with his grandparents in Nepal because Gurkha soldiers below a certain rank cannot bring their families to the UK permanently.

Born in Nepal, he came to Britain for the three-year "tour" which Gurkha families are allowed to spend in the UK during a soldier's service. But the family had to go back at the end of that time.

Mr Rai's wife Bidya, 29, was able to return to Britain because she is classed as a British National Overseas, and daughter Aishwarya, four, is British-born. But Bibek does not have a British passport, and when Mr Rai applied to bring him to the UK, he was refused.

Last month, a former Gurkha from Folkestone was deported to Nepal. Teej Bahadur Limbu, who served the Crown for 18 years, opted to go through the asylum process. His case failed.

But Mr Rai said Gurkhas who return to live in their native Nepal would fear for their lives there.

Service with the Gurkhas runs in Mr Rai's family. His grandfather served in the British Army in India and his father in Malaya (now Malaysia).