Brit couple’s adopted ‘Maths genius’ son, 21, wins place at Oxford but faces deportation as 70,000 sign petition to keep him in UK
Brian White, 21, faces a race against time after being told he can not legally stay in the UK
A YOUNG "Maths genius" who was adopted by a British couple 15 years ago has won a place to study at Oxford University - but faces deportation.
Brian White, 21, faces a race against time after being told he can not legally stay in the UK - despite living in the country with his British parents for six years.
More than 70,000 people have now signed a petition to keep straight-A student Brian in the UK so he can study Chemistry at the uni's St Mary's College.
Friends and family have been campaigning to keep Brian, who was abandoned as a baby and grew up in Zimbabwe, in the country after he was refused student finance to study at the prestigious university.
Brian has been told he can defer his place to study for 12 months - but the deadline to let Oxford know is nearing and he is still waiting to hear from the Home Office.
If his latest application to let him legally stay in the UK fails, he faces a return to Zimbabwe.
Brian, from Wolverhampton, said: "I haven't been there in seven or eight years, I don't know anybody there. I don't have any connections."
The 21-year-old grew up in an orphanage until the age of six, before being fostered and then adopted by British-born Peter White and his his wife Thoko.
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Brian moved to Botswana with his new parents and their two sons, John and Stephen, before the family returned to the UK when he was 15.
Campaigners say Brian should have been given indefinite leave to remain at this point, but instead he was offered a limited immigration status.
He has won the support of friends, family, writers Caitlin Moran and Philip Pullman - as well as his local MP Eleanor Smith.
The bright student was refused British citizenship after his parents requested it and found he had no legal right to settle permanently after receiving three A*s and an A in his A-levels.
Brian said: "It's had a massive impact and put a big question mark over my future."
A pal, 19, started the petition to keep Brian in the UK last week and the cause has since received over 70,000 signatures.
A Home Office spokesman said: "We understand the urgency of Mr White's case and are looking to resolve his application as soon as possible. Brian entered the UK in 2012 as the dependant of his parents.
"In 2014, he applied for naturalisation as a British citizen, which was refused as he did not qualify under the immigration rules. In April 2017 he submitted a further application for leave [to remain] under a different category. This remains under consideration."
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