Immigration and Asylum Minister Gerd Leers has agreed to review the case of 18-year-old Angolan Mauro Manuel and whether he should be allowed to remain in the Netherlands. Even if the ICT student, who came to the country as an unaccompanied underage asylum seeker almost nine years ago, is granted permission to stay, he still has a long battle ahead. It will literally be years before he is granted the rights that make it possible to lead a normal life.

Mauro's story is one of many highlighted in a television series Waving Goodbye To The Netherlands by Dutch public broadcaster VARA. Another former underage asylum seeker, Tobias Kovi (not his real name), fought a nine-year battle with the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service to be allowed to stay in the country he saw as his new home.

Rights
As in Mauro’s case, the IND repeatedly ignored court decisions that he should be granted a residence permit. Eventually the court threw out the IND case, questioning why the service was so determined to pursue the matter when it was clear Tobias was a well-integrated, talented young man who should be allowed to stay.

Even after being granted a residence permit, former asylum seekers do not enjoy the same rights as everybody else. The list of things they cannot do is endless. Depending on whether or not they have a passport and the type of residence permit: they cannot travel abroad, vote, marry, buy a house, get health insurance or even get a job.

Bureaucracy
Kovi has had to fight bureaucracy every step of the way to be granted the rights most citizens take for granted. The legal wrangling took several years.

“It takes so long. People’s lives are on hold for as long as ten years. Your life, your personal development and your future are blocked.”

Tobias Kovi is a multi-talented young artist. He speaks fluent Dutch, French, English and the Togolese language Mina. He was scouted by the Rietveld Art Academy at the asylum centre he lived in. He subsequently graduated cum laude and went on to gain a Masters in Fine Art.

As a stateless person without a passport or even a national insurance number, however, he continually ran up against bureaucratic barriers. Eventually the Dutch authorities told him he had to return to Togo, his country of origin, to sort out a passport.

“I have nothing that connects me to Togo. All these years, Togo has never made any claim on me.”

Stateless
The trip was a failure. It was also the final straw. Back in the Netherlands, he went to his local municipality and demanded a passport. He was finally granted one as a stateless person. Although this looks similar to a Dutch passport, it is not the same. There is no coat of arms on its green cover. Inside it reads: this travel document is for aliens. Finally he can travel anywhere in the world – except Togo.

Asked about the case of Mauro Manuel, Tobias says he has a long way to go.

“Mauro has to prove he has no economic or legal connection with Angola. Angola has made no claim on Mauro, he is no threat to the Netherlands.”

Tradition
The whole experience has left a deep impression. Kovi has written a book (in French) on his theory that citizens are not the property of a state. Their only sovereignty is to themselves. It is a political argument that human beings should be free to travel anywhere in the world, especially when no country appears to be claiming them. It's a utopia that humanity has probably not known since the times of Thomas More and Erasmus.

Throughout the ages, the Dutch capital has had a tradition of granting asylum to persecuted people. In Amsterdam, writers and philosophers were free to publish ideas that could not be printed elsewhere. Outside the city hall there is a statue of Dutch philosopher, Spinoza, son of Portuguese Jews. An inscription quotes the philosopher: "The purpose of the state is freedom." The question is: will Minister Leers uphold this tradition?

Read more: Asylum minister to review Anglolan boy's case