Tucker Comparative Migration Studies (2018) 6:29 in-depth interviews with stateless refugees in Germany and Sweden were carried out during 2017. Given that neither Germany nor Sweden, as with most states globally, has law or policy in place to comprehensively, accurately or transparently identify the statelessness of refugees, the research focused on Palestinian refugees from Syria (PRS). The statelessness of this sub-group is, by and large, recognised by both Germany and Sweden. The same cannot be said for other stateless refugees in the two countries. The interviews focused on why the participants decided upon Germany or Sweden as the country in which to seek asylum. The findings showed that there was a very high degree of destination specificity towards Sweden for nearly all of the participants. This was based on their desire to reach Sweden due to its accessible citizenship as compared to other European or Arab states. Thus, many of the participants prioritised being able to resolve their, and their families’ statelessness, as quickly as possible. Most of the participants had conducted research before leaving Syria, drawing on information from social networks and other sources, to establish in which European country they could acquire citizenship. Other factors were also raised by the participants as influencing their destination decision making. These included being able to acquire a status that would allow them to access citizenship, joining family members and limited choice. Economic and educational opportunities or smugglers and agents, played only a minor role. Interestingly, social and human capital were often devalued, compared to speedy acquisition of citizenship. In summary, the research finds that in order to better understand the migration decisions of stateless refugees, their statelessness and their desire to resolve this should be considered. Research background Palestinian refugees from Syria While around half a million Palestinian refugees resided in Syria before the current conflict, it was estimated that by 2017 over 120,000 of them had fled the country (The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East [UNRWA], 2017a). This exodus is unsurprising given that Palestinians have been targeted by various state and non-state actors in Syria ("Palestinians of Syria," 2017). The Palestinians have been framed as in a unique situation by international law. This led to their exclusion from protection under the refugee and statelessness conventions. This applies if they are in the areas of operation of UNRWA: These areas being Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza. The secondary movement of Palestinian refugees from Syria to other states where UNRWA operates has not been a smooth transition, with many PRS falling into a ‘protection gap’ between the mandates of UNHCR and UNRWA (Erekat, 2014). As such, Syria’s neighbouring states, where most of the PRS can be found (see UNRWA, 2017a), provide little in terms of relief or protection for the population. In Lebanon for example, almost 90% of the PRS live below the poverty line (UNRWA, 2017b), while in Jordan basic services are denied to the population and they face deportation to Syria (UNRWA, 2017c). Due to these and other factors, onward mobility is steady, with estimates that between 2011 and 2016 nearly 85,000 PRS sought asylum in Europe ("Palestinians of Syria," 2017). In 2015 and 2016, refugees from Syria constituted the largest group of asylum seekers to Europe (Eurostat, 2017a). Germany and Sweden have been, and continue Page 2 of 17