An Egyptian student who has a rare genetic disorder that cannot be treated in his home country says he now has “hope for the future” after the Home Office reversed its decision to deport him.
Youssef Mikhaiel, 28, who lives in Glasgow, was due to be deported in June, but the removal was postponed after a ruling at the court of session in Edinburgh. He has been granted to leave to remain until April 2026 with officials saying they would exercise discretion in view of his “exceptional circumstances”.
Mikhaiel has Fabry disease, an inherited condition in which enzymes cannot break down fatty materials known as lipids, allowing them to build up in the body and damage the heart, kidneys and nervous system.
Without treatment, which is available in the UK, Mikhaiel’s lifespan is likely to be shortened. According to evidence from Egyptian doctors, being deprived of treatment for Fabry disease would cause Mikhaiel “intense suffering or death”.
He was held at Dungavel House detention centre in Lanarkshire for two weeks in May and June.
A letter sent by officials at Misr international hospital in Egypt confirmed that the country’s drug authority did not provide a medicine called migalastat, which is used in Scotland to treat the disease.
Mikhaiel told the Guardian that his consultant will now start the life-lengthening treatment, having been reluctant to begin a drug treatment that might be abruptly interrupted if his patient was suddenly deported.
Mikhaiel is hoping that he and his partner, Sarah Bradley, will now be able to get married as soon as possible. Bradley, 29, a British digital marketing teacher, met Mikhaiel in February 2022 through a Christian dating app. Both are practising Christians.
Bradley said: “It was love at first sight, love at first chat, love at first everything when we met in February 2022.”
She said that the battles with the Home Office had strengthened the couple’s love for each other.
“We’re so over the moon about the Home Office decision,” she told the Guardian. “Youssef can now start the treatment he needs and we can start planning a future together. We’re planning our wedding 100,000% since getting the decision. The fact that Youssef was almost deported raises a lot of questions about the Home Office system. Their hostile culture needs to be removed and the department needs to be reformed.”
Mikhaiel said: “Now I have a life. I got my degree in aeronautical engineering and I’m now studying for a second degree in cybersecurity. I can start my treatment, continue with my studies and Sarah and I can get married. A new chapter is starting. I have hope for the future.”
Mikhaiel’s lawyer, Usman Aslam of Mukhtar & Co solicitors, welcomed the Home Office’s decision: “This is an outstanding result and a significant win given the very high legal threshold to stay in the UK on medical grounds. There was no need to detain someone, and despite us showing medical evidence, they proceeded to try to remove him from the UK.”
The Home Office said: “All applications for leave to remain are carefully considered on their individual merits, on the basis of the evidence provided and in accordance with the immigration rules. We only return those with no legal right to remain in the UK and will not return anyone to countries where they have been found to be at risk of persecution or serious harm.”
