The orphaned son of an asylum seeker who has lived under the threat of deportation for 10 years has been told he can stay permanently in the UK.

Giorgi Kakava, 13, said he is delighted and very relieved that the Home Office has finally granted him the right to remain indefinitely, but is sad and disappointed that his grandmother, Ketino Baikhadze, has only been given 30 months’ leave to remain and could still be forced to return to Georgia, the country of their birth.

Giorgi said: “It is good news because Glasgow is my home, I feel Scottish and if I got moved to Georgia it would be tough to cope without all my friends.

“But the decision is very unfair on my nan because we are very close and I do not know what I would do if she was sent away.” Giorgi and his mother, Sopio Baikhadze, fled to Glasgow in 2011, when he was three, because her late husband owed a debt to gangsters. She was awaiting the outcome of an appeal for asylum when she passed away after a long illness in early 2018.

Giorgi’s case was championed by the Rev Brian Casey, minister of Springburn Parish Church, who lobbied the UK and Scottish governments and launched an online petition which attracted 92,650 signatures.

Mr Casey said he is ‘delighted’ that Giorgi has finally been given the chance to live the life of a normal teenager.

“It has been a long fight but it would have been criminal to send him back to a country that he doesn’t know where he could be in danger,” he added.

“But it does seem wrong that his gran, who is his guardian, will have to go through this whole protracted process again when he is 15 and still a minor. So, as we move forward we will have to keep an eye on that.”