An eight-year-old boy who was born in a Dutch refugee centre and has lived in the Netherlands all his life no longer faces deportation to Kenya.

Dennis did not qualify for the child refugee amnesty because for part of the time he was off the national refugee organisation radar.

However, junior justice minister Fred Teeven has now used his discretionary powers to allow Dennis to stay, saying there were ‘individual, special circumstances’ to his case. His mother has also been granted residency.

Some 35,000 people signed a petition urging Teeven to allow the boy, who goes to school in Utrecht, to stay.

Children

Teeven told MPs in October 3,260 applications for the amnesty have been made on behalf of children and their family members and 1,800 have been refused.

Of those, 1,330 cases have now gone to appeal. Teeven said at the time the amnesty was launched he expected it would apply to 800 children.

To qualify for the amnesty, children should have lived in the Netherlands for at least five years and not been out of contact with the Dutch authorities for more than three months. They must also be under the age of 21 and have lied about their identity to officials no more than once.