Five years ago, Vasile Onica was rescued from a Romanian orphanage. In less than a month he faces deportation and a life on the streets.

He has worked hard to gain qualifications and is part of a loving family who treat him as their own. But his adoption was never made official.

Vasile is now living in fear. Sussex has been his home since he was 17.

He considers his foster family his own, has attended school here, gained qualifications and risen far above his heart-rending beginnings in a Romanian orphanage.

But because of immigration laws, Vasile, now 22, will have to leave this country unless he finds a job or funding to go to university.

Time is running out. His visa expires on August 31.

When asked how he would feel if he had to leave, Vasile began to cry.

He took a deep breath and said: "I don't want to leave. I am happy here and have the life I always wished for."

Vasile has received offers from four universities, including Brighton and Sussex, but he cannot take up a place because he must pay £8,000 a year in tuition fees.

He longs to work in computing and has applied for many jobs.

But he has not got as far as an interview because his visa is about to run out.

Now his foster father, Dr Stuart Newton, is fighting to extend his visa and is appealing for offers of employment for Vasile, who is disabled in one leg from polio.

Dr Newton, who is married to teacher Rosemary, 59, and has three daughters Nicola, 28, Andrea, 24, and Natasha, 21, said: "Our family would be devastated if Vasile had to leave.

"My daughters love having him around and it is nice having a son. Vasile has done so well here and is a joy to be around."

Vasile was one of the youngsters in Romanian orphanages shown on television programmes during the Nineties.

Dr Newton, 57, and another teacher first visited the country with much-needed supplies just after the revolution in February 1990.

The first orphanage he saw was Vasile's.

There, children with polio-wasted legs struggled to drag themselves along the filthy floor. Others ran up to the teachers eager for any kind of love and attention.

Dr Newton, who lives in Horsham, said: "They were living in squalor, in snow and mud, underfed, poorly clothed, cold and dirty.

"I know. I saw and smelled them for real. I even slept in their cold, damp beds and washed in ice-cold water. It is inhumane for anyone to be treated like that."

Vasile was placed in the orphanage at the age of seven. His parents were very poor and also had to look after another son and two daughters.

Vasile's fate, like so many other youngsters who were disabled and unwanted, looked as if it had already been decided.

But when Dr Newton walked through the door of the orphanage on a visit in 1992, Vasile's life took a turn for the better.

Dr Newton said; "I asked the orphanage director who she thought could cope emotionally with coming to England for an operation.

"Vasile was sent into the office on his crutches and he just stood in the corner looking very sweet. He was a gentle and sensitive fellow."

Vasile still had some contact with his Romanian family but they knew the trip to England would be his only hope.

During the next few years, Vasile made several visits to England to see doctors about straightening his leg.

During each six-week visit, he attended school and stayed with the Newton family, who became like his own.

Vasile loved school. He said: "At first I didn't know any English so I just made signs or tried to talk about football. I really liked the PE lessons and learning from other people.

"In Romania, people were sad but here they were lively."

He got a six-month visa for his operation in August 1997.

He also got a place at a high school, then a nearby sixth form college and he blossomed.

Tears once again welled up in his eyes as he said: "I felt like an Englishman. I was studying, I had a part-time job, lots of friends and I was happy."

He went from speaking no English and having little education to gaining GCSE grade C in English, a distinction in physical education and a GNVQ in business studies and in information technology.

He passed his driving test and is expecting a pass in Advanced VCE in information technology.

All the time, the Newtons never considered adopting Vasile because he still had a family in Romania.

Today, he still feels the pain of having left his family behind but he knows living here is the only way he can fulfil his potential.

He returned from a visit to Romania on Monday, where he had a reminder of what sort of life awaits him there.

Despite his new qualifications, in Romania he is still seen as a second-class citizen because of his disability.

He said: "Two of my friends from the orphanage are now living on the streets. Others have a very bad life.

"They have their dreams but in Romania your dreams don't come true very easily if you're disabled.

"I know I would almost definitely have ended up on the streets too."

Today, he has waved goodbye to a fate of living on the streets in Romania - or at least that was what he thought.

Dr Newton said: "The youngsters we saw on our television screens have not gone away. They are just twelve years older.

"They are perhaps not as cuddly and appealing but are still blighted because of their appalling start to life.

"We in the UK have no obligation to help them. But we have developed some strange rules.

"On the one hand, our rules allow us to support those who have no intention of complying with UK law.

"On the other hand, our rules do not allow us to support a young man who, clearly, has made full use of his fresh start in this country and wants to continue to do so."

The system threatens to break up a family and send a young man back to an uncertain future.

Vasile comes from a rural area where the only jobs available are in agriculture - not good for someone who is disabled.

Now Vasile's only hope is to find funding for university or a job.

Anyone who can help should call 01403 240529 or email s_newton@hotmail.com