23. In Belgium, the judiciary is competent to determine statelessness. Since 2017, a person can be recognised as stateless by one of the family courts established at the six seats of the courts of appeal. The Judiciary Code contains provisions governing the application for statelessness (material and territorial competence of the tribunal, rules of procedure).42 However, there are no specific procedural safeguards nor legislation on statelessness determination. 24. The existing procedure falls short of standards set out in the UNHCR Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons in a number of areas, so cannot be considered a formal statelessness determination procedure. During the procedure, applicants are not protected against removal, and may be at risk of detention. As applicants are considered undocumented migrants, they have only limited rights. In the judicial procedure, the burden of proof lies almost entirely with the applicant, and the standard of proof and documents required from the applicant are unclear. Delays in decision-making vary between courts but can be up to 12 to 18 months. If the application is rejected, an appeal can be filed. Legal aid is available both in first instance and in appeal, under the same conditions. 25. Crucially, recognition as stateless under the judicial procedure does not result in an automatic residence permit and the law does not provide for a procedure for a stateless person to acquire a residence permit. Persons recognised as stateless by the court must apply to the Immigration Office for a residence permit on humanitarian grounds.43 A person recognised as stateless under the judicial procedure does not derive any additional rights from this recognition (beyond those accessible to undocumented migrants). There is no right to temporary residence while the application is pending, and the applicant may only access urgent healthcare and is not permitted to work, access housing or social security. Regularisation for recognised stateless persons is generally difficult. An appeal against refusal of a residence permit can be filed before the ‘Council for Immigration Law Litigation (CILL)’, but this is not an effective remedy as CILL may only examine the lawfulness of the decision. 26. Stateless asylum seekers are – until determination of their claims – entitled to remain in Belgium, benefit from basic social assistance and have access to a range of other rights. If their asylum claim is refused, they lose the right to reside in Belgium as well as access to most other rights, with the exception of urgent medical care. There is no clear referral mechanism from the asylum procedure to the judicial procedure to determine statelessness.44 27. A legislative proposal was introduced in 2019 in the Belgian Parliament to establish criteria and a procedure for granting a residence permit to recognised stateless people, but it has not been adopted.45 The new Belgian Government announced its intention in 2020 to address the issue of residence permits for stateless people and its plans to grant a residence permit to stateless people who are unable to return to their country of origin Art. 569, 572bis, 632bis and 1025 to 1034 of the Belgian Judicial Code. Art. 9bis of the Immigration Act. Article 98 of the Royal Decree of 8 October 1981 states that stateless persons and their families fall under general regulation. 44 Statelessness Index on Belgium: http://index.statelessness.eu/country/belgium. 45 Proposition de loi modifiant la loi du 15 décembre 1980 sur l’accès au territoire, le séjour, l’établissement et l’éloignement des étrangers, en vue de régler le droit de séjour des apatrides, 24 janvier 2019, DOC54 3487/001 https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/54/3487/54K3487001.pdf. 42 43 9