Mikael, 13, will not be deported to Armenia

A 13-year-old boy who was facing deportation to Armenia even though he has never lived there can stay in the Netherlands, the immigration service has decided.

Mikael was at the center of protests after the Council of State ruled that the state was entitled to remove him and his mother, who came to the Netherlands in 2009. Mikael was born in an asylum seekers’ center three years later.

The administrative court said his mother had failed to co-operate with the authorities because she left the refugee accommodation for a spell in 2015 and did not give details of where she was staying.

Around 500 people joined a march in Amsterdam demanding he be allowed to stay and a petition supporting the boy gathered 90,000 signatures.

In April the IND rejected a new application for asylum from Mikael’s mother, while immigration minister Marjolein Faber said no exceptions would be made.

But the immigration service has now said he and his mother should be allowed to stay because of their close relationship with his father.

“Mikael and his mother are relieved and delighted that they can finally move on with their lives and grateful for the support that so many people have given them,” a lawyer for the family told press agency ANP.