On The Protection Of Stateless Persons In Germany 45 Both the toleration and temporary residence permit provisions are frequently applied in practice: at the end of 2009, toleration was granted to 549 stateless persons and 7.689 persons with unclear nationality.51 The residence permit for impossibility to leave the country was granted to 144 stateless persons and 558 persons with unclear nationality.52 There is no public data on the number of stateless persons removed under the readmission agreements, and there is little information in general regarding their application. The toleration and temporary residence permit may be evaluated positively in order to avoid the legal limbo in which stateless persons may find themselves and for allowing, although only after five years of a temporary permit, to apply for a settlement permit (Niederlassungserlaubnis).53 However, the main negative aspects of the current provisions are that: (1) statelessness is not identified as a protection ground and remains a hidden issue, causing lack of awareness both of decision-makers and stateless persons;54 (2) due to the highly decentralized administrative system and lack of public available information (including internal guidelines and policies), it is difficult to have a clear understanding on how the immigration authorities of different offices deal with issues of statelessness when they arise in connection with the right to stay, travel documents or naturalization; (3) the protection given under the temporary residence permit is much less favourable than that of refugees in Germany or recognized stateless persons in countries with a statelessnessspecific protection mechanism (such as the United Kingdom, Italy or Spain);55 51 52 53 54 55 <http://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Themen/MigrationIntegration/ AsylZuwanderung/RueckkehrFluechtlinge.pdf ?__blob=publicationFile> accessed 2 August 2013. The administration uses the category of persons with status of ‘unclear’ nationality, despite a number of judgments have declared this contrary to the law. Statistisches Bundesamt, ‘Bevölkerung und Erwerbstätigkeit. Ausländische Bevölkerung Ergebnisse des Ausländerzentralregisters��� (2010) 86, 87. §9 AufentG neugefasst durch Bekanntmachung vom 25.02.2008 (BGBl I 2008, 162); zuletzt geändert durch Artikel 2 Abs 59 Gesetz vom 07.08.2013 (BGBl I 2013, 3154). The settlement permit can be considered a meaningful protection status as it allows to sponsor family members and to live in the country without time limits. However, there are several requirements to meet, including having secured livelihood for himself and his family, and an adequate knowledge of the German language. Gyulai (n 1) 289. For instance, in Germany persons granted a residence permit due to a persisting obstacle to leaving the country are not entitled to family reunification. ibid 279. In addition, when a stateless person obtains a residence permit for impossibility to leave the country he must still establish his statelessness for obtaining a travel document under Article 28 of the 1954 Convention or to apply for facilitated naturalization. tilburg law review 19 (2014) 35-51