Australia is allowing foreign nationals to join its military. Could the UK follow suit?

Citizens from the UK, USA, Canada and New Zealand with permanent residency will be eligible to join in bid to boost troop numbers

Australia will allow foreign nationals with permanent residency to join its military, the Australian government said on Tuesday.

Only people from the United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada and New Zealand will be eligible.

These countries, alongside Australia, make up the "Five Eyes" intelligence-sharing network which collaborates on intelligence matters to ensure collective security and combat global threats.

The announcement is part of a push to address a shortfall of 4400 personnel in the Australian Defence Forces (ADF) and build a military that can resist foreign coercion through blocked trade routes in the future, Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said.

"We are not trying to make ourselves a peer of the United States or of China. That's not a credible thing to propose. In a far less certain world, do we have an ability to be able to resist coercion of any adversary and to make our way?"

Australia is particularly reliant on open sea and air routes as an island nation that trades with the world, and is therefore more susceptible to coercion from foreign militaries.

New Zealanders who have lived in Australia for at least a year will be eligible to join the ADF from July, and permanent residents from Britain, Canada and the US will be eligible from January 2025.

Applicants must also not have served in a foreign military in the preceding two years and must be able to attain citizenship.

Australia's Five Eyes partners are also struggling to hit military recruitment targets.

The New Zealand Defense Force is short of 1,300 uniformed personnel, officials reported in February, after losing 30% of its military personnel between 2021 and last year.

In May, Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak announced that 18-year-olds will have to perform a year of mandatory military or civilian national service if his government is re-elected in July.

This came after a group of MPs warned in February that Britain will not be ready to fight an all-out war unless the government addresses the lack of training and recruitment crisis faced by the Army.

To be eligible to join the UK Armed Forces, candidates must be a British (British Citizen, British Overseas Citizen, British Overseas Territory Citizen, British National (Overseas) Citizen, British Protected Person or British Subject) Irish or a Commonwealth Citizen. This can be as a sole or dual national.​ The British Army also has the Brigade of Gurkhas who are from Nepal.

The Army paused accepting new applications from Commonwealth citizens in early 2023 due to large numbers of applications whilst those already in the pipeline are processed.

ITV News understands the situation is being kept under review and the Army is now accepting applications from Commonwealth citizens who are applying as a musician.

Currently the Armed Forces Act 2006 provides the statutory basis for the restriction of aliens (“a person who is neither a citizen of the UK, the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland nor a British protected person”) from enlisting in the UK Armed Forces. The Brigade of Gurkhas is the only exception to this.

The Ministry of Defence did not directly respond to ITV News when asked whether the UK government would consider changing the law to open up applications for foreign nationals.

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