Petition Changes Must Be Made To The ROA1974 Which Due to an Amendment in April Last Year Discriminates Against F&C Soldiers

Under an amendment in April to the ROA1974,it states:any finding that a person is guilty of an offence in respect of any act or omission which was the subject of service disciplinary proceedings shall be treated as a conviction & any punishment awarded in respect of any such finding shall be treated as a sentence.In Sep the UKBA published its ‘Criminality req for settlement' guidance-From 6/4/11 a person who applies for settlement must show that they do not have any unspent convictions (as defined by the ROA 1974). So F&C soldiers, who receive a military summary punishment from their commanding officer for even minor non-criminal offences, will be given a criminal conviction in civilian life. As a result they will be mandatorily refused British citizenship upon discharge from the Army even if they have a British spouse & children.The Act is discriminative & we demand that the ROA 1974 is amended to take F&C Soldiers into consideration so they can be granted British Citizenship.