Nationality is often determined through place of birth, parentage, or a long-term residence in a country. However, there are certain situations whereby nationality cannot be distinguished and as a result, statelessness occurs. A Stateless Person can be defined as an individual not recognised as a citizen or a national under the operation of laws of any country and thus cannot benefit from the rights associated with citizenship. There are various ways in which an individual can become a Stateless Person but statelessness itself is most common amongst refugees. For the most part, most individuals that are stateless have never even crossed an international border or left their home country.
Stateless Persons Definition
Statelessness in the UK occurs if you are not recognised as a citizen of any given country and you are currently unable to live permanently in any given country either. UK Immigration Rules do allow applications to be made for those individuals wishing to be recognised as Stateless Persons. However, to make an application to stay in the UK as a Stateless Person, both of the following conditions must be met:
- You are not recognised as a citizen of any country
- You are unable to live permanently in any other country
There is also a requirement that an individual must currently be present in the UK to make their application. However, if an individual is unable to return to a given country for fear of persecution then they should first claim asylum before anything else. If an individual has already claimed asylum or already has an outstanding Human Rights claim, then it is necessary to wait until a decision has been made regarding their immigration status. Consequently, it is only possible for an individual to make an application to stay in the UK as a Stateless Person once their previous claims for asylum or Human Rights have been refused.
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