A Message from UNHCR “Invisible is the word most commonly used to describe what it is like to be without a nationality,” said UNHCR High Commissioner Filippo Grandi. “For stateless children and youth, being ‘invisible’ can mean missing out on educational opportunities, being marginalised in the playground, being ignored by healthcare providers, being overlooked when it comes to employment opportunities, and being silenced if they question the status quo.”3 An estimated 10 million people in the world today are stateless. Through no fault of their own, they have no nationality and no fundamental tie to a country. Despite often living their entire lives in a country, they are citizens of nowhere. Without a nationality, these women, men, and children are often denied the most basic of rights. Many face obstacles to accessing education, seeing a doctor, getting a job, opening a bank account, or even getting married. They face discrimination, detention, and long-term or indefinite separation from family and loved ones. In addition to its other responsibilities, through a series of resolutions beginning in 1995, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was mandated by the UN General Assembly to reduce situations of statelessness and protect the rights of stateless people. In carrying out that responsibility, UNHCR works with governments, civil society, and stateless people to identify stateless populations; reduce existing situations of statelessness; prevent new situations of statelessness from emerging; and protect the rights of stateless people. What is Statelessness? The 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons defines a stateless person as “a person who is not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its laws.” 4 No definition of statelessness currently exists under U.S. law, nor does the law provide any specific protections to individuals by virtue of their stateless status.5 As such, the special circumstances of stateless people often pass undetected in their interactions with U.S. immigration authorities.6 The purpose of this manual is to empower immigration lawyers in the United States to recognize when a U.S.-based client is stateless and to zealously represent such clients before immigration authorities. 7 It serves Press Release, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UNHCR Commemorates 2 Years of the #IBelong Campaign to Eradicate Statelessness, (Oct. 27, 2016), http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/news/press/2016/10/5811c77e4/unhcrcommemorates-2-years-ibelong-campaign-eradicate-global-statelessness.html. 4 United Nations (UN) Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, Aug. 30, 1961, 989 U.N.T.S. 175, available at http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b39620.html [accessed Dec. 11 2016]. 5 By contrast, the United Kingdom has a specific statelessness determination procedure. See EUROPEAN COUNCIL ON REFUGEES AND EXILES WEEKLY BULLETIN, UK INTRODUCES A STATELESSNESS DETERMINATION PROCEDURE, (Apr. 19, 2013), available at http://www.ecre.org/uk-introduces-a-stateless-determination-procedure/. 6 Additional gaps in U.S. law create a risk of statelessness for persons outside the United States. For instance, U.S. law allows for voluntary renunciation of citizenship without first requiring the acquisition of another nationality, leaving some individuals stateless. See Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) § 349 – Loss of Nationality by Native-Born or Naturalized Citizen, available at https://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/SLB/HTML/SLB/0-0-0-1/0-0-0-29/0-0-0-10446.html. While there may be opportunities for legal practitioners to assist individuals who have been rendered stateless under these circumstances, this edition of the manual focuses on legal assistance to stateless persons physically present in the United States. 3 1