‘Brilliant’ student wins the right to stay and study in UK

A “BRILLIANT” student has won his battle to remain in Britain indefinitely and take up a place at Oxford University after 100,000 people signed a petition supporting his cause.

Brian White, who moved to the UK aged 15 with his adoptive family, after his British father decided to return home from Botswana, was informed of the decision by his lawyer.

The news was announced publicly by a friend of Mr White who organised a petition calling on the Home Office to grant the 21-year-old, from Wolverhampton, indefinite leave to remain in the UK. Mr White, who lived in a Zimbabwean orphanage until the age of six, when he was fostered and later adopted by the White family, had an application to become a British citizen by naturalisation rejected in 2014.

The straight-a student had feared his immigration status could cost him a place at Oxford to study chemistry.

Luke Wilcox set up the petition, signed by more than 110,000 wellwishers, urging the Home Office to grant indefinite leave to remain to “a fantastic person who is just as much a part of British culture and society as you and I”.