Chess prodigy, 9, faces being kicked out of the country
A CHILD chess prodigy who has represented England at tournaments faces being kicked out of the country.
shreyas Royal, nine, has been called Britain’s ‘greatest chess prospect in a generation’ and is ranked at world number four in his age group.
But when his father’s visa expires next month, his family, who came to the UK six years ago, must return to India.
shreyas, known as shrez, was born in India but has lived in south London since the age of three after his father, Jitendra singh, was offered a job as an IT project manager.
shreyas is currently competing in the British Chess Championships. But it could be his last UK tournament, as Mr singh’s fiveyear work visa is due to expire next month.
He is now calling on Home secretary sajid Javid to let his family stay, telling Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘We just want to request that you can give [a] chance to my son whose talent developed here in England.
‘The support and recognition that he’s getting in England, I’m sure he will not get it in India.’
Immigration rules would allow Mr singh’s visa to be extended if he earned £120,000 a year, but he does not. Two MPs are now backing the family’s bid to stay. In a joint letter to Mr Javid, Leeds West MP Rachel Reeves and Greenwich and Woolwich MP Matthew Pennycook said the UK would lose an ‘exceptional talent’ if shreyas were to leave.
‘The UK should always encourage the world’s brightest, most talented people to work and make their lives here,’ they wrote.
‘shreyas is recognised by the English Chess Federation as the country’s greatest chess prospect in a generation.’
The pair added that despite Mr singh’s employer wanting him to stay with the firm in the UK, ‘there is no mechanism for him to apply to remain in the UK’.
Miss Reeves also said shreyas ‘should be allowed to stay in the only home he can remember’.
In a letter responding to an appeal from the English Chess Federation, immigration minister Caroline Nokes said: ‘Whilst shreyas does show immense promise in the field of competitive chess I am afraid there is no route, within the rules, that will allow Mr singh and his family to remain in the country.’ A Home Office spokesman said: ‘ Every visa case is assessed on its own merits in line with immigration rules.’