Groups at risk of
Statelessness
Some groups of people are particularly at risk of statelessness.
These include:
Orphaned and abandoned infants and other vulnerable
children;
People of mixed parentage;
Adults who's birth's have never been registered;
Undocumented long-term migrants and their children; and
Border populations.
There is an increasing number of unaccompanied or separated migrant children (USMCs) in South Africa who
are placed in the care system through a Children’s Court order and invariably based on the court’s finding that it is
in the child’s best interest to remain in South Africa. These children are often undocumented and/or stateless or at
risk of statelessness, but there is no legal safeguard for them to obtain citizenship or immigration status in South
Africa.