In the dead of night, without time to say goodbye to friends and family, and carrying only a backpack stuffed with clothes, Michael set off on a journey from his ex-Soviet state to Samoa. But soon after going through Kazakhstan, into Xinjiang and across China by train, he hit roadblocks in Hong Kong that have kept him stuck here for the last five years.
While in Hong Kong, Michael received a presidential ordinance telling him he was no longer a citizen in the land of his birth.
That made him stateless; a citizen of no country. Without a valid passport, or even a state that will claim him as its own, he cannot go home even if he wants to, let alone to any foreign country. Michael would not reveal his home country for fear of being identified, and his name has been changed.
Even before he was deemed stateless, the New Zealand and Australian governments refused to let him transit via their countries on his way to Samoa, the only country he could escape to without a visa. Coming from a war-torn and unstable country, they feared he might claim asylum.
'I couldn't go any farther and I couldn't go back,' he says.
Though he would not discuss the details of his departure out of fear for his family's safety, he says he has been imprisoned, beaten and had his life threatened for his political views.
Michael's third quandary is still ongoing - trying to get recognised as stateless and hopefully getting some semblance of freedom with it.