nonetheless.49 Yet, even if someone succeeds in providing adequate documentary support to substantiate a claim to statelessness, the immediate legal consequences appear to be limited. A right to reside or work in the Netherlands can certainly not be inferred from it. A right to reside in the Netherlands is determined by the IND, but according to Dutch law statelessness in itself is not a ground on which one can acquire a residence permit. Moreover, although data from the GBA are indicative for all other governmental institutions, e.g. the IND, they are not binding.50 It is nevertheless important for stateless persons to be registered as such for two reasons. The first reason pertains to the Dutch legislation, which requires a child to be stateless from birth if he or she is to be eligible for Dutch citizenship under Article 6(1)b of the DNA. It would facilitate a child’s chances of acquisition of nationality if he or she were born to two registered stateless parents. Secondly, a registration as stateless in the GBA will in general be sufficient to qualify for an aliens’ passport with a “statelessness clause”.51 Though the individual concerned will not be exempt from visa regulations in most countries, it is nonetheless an internationally accepted travel and identification document. 38. Alternatively, when the person concerned is suspected of having at least one, albeit undetermined, nationality or has reported citizenship of a country not recognized by the Netherlands, he or she is registered as being of unknown nationality. Children of asylumseekers are also regularly registered in this way. Often asylum-seekers and refugees will not have evidentiary proof of their nationality and as such they cannot legally be required or expected to contact their national authorities to ask for confirmation of their identity/ nationality. Quite a number of asylum-seekers arrive in the Netherlands without adequate documentation and it can be assumed that many will therefore be registered as being of unknown nationality. In the context of State succession, the GBA operational guideline prescribes that after the breakdown of a State, former citizens who have not yet acquired the citizenship of a successor State should be registered as being of unknown nationality. Also if someone loses his or her nationality following a State’s breakdown or demise and it is unclear what other nationality he or she might be eligible for, the person concerned is considered to be of unknown nationality.52 39. Although commonplace, this registration practice encounters problems in terms of States’ obligations under the 1954 Convention. The latter implicitly requires the determination of status if States are to be able to identify who is entitled to the rights under the Convention, including in the Dutch context those flowing from registration as stateless in the GBA. In this context, the Recommendation on the Nationality of Children (CM/Rec(2009)13) adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 9 December 2009 is relevant. It states that, with a view to reducing statelessness among children, member States should: “8. register children as being of unknown or undetermined nationality, or classify children’s nationality as being ‘under investigation’ only for as short a period as possible”. 40. In the Netherlands no time limit is imposed on the duration of a registration as “nationality unknown”, nor does it result in a municipal duty to look into the matter and answer the implicit question as to nationality. Moreover, the fact that the Netherlands has ratified the 18 49 Interview with Eric Gubbels, Advisor at the Nederlandse Vereniging voor Burgerzaken (NVVB) (‘Dutch Association for Civic Affairs’) – telephone, 27 January 2011. 50 Interview with Eric Gubbels – telephone, 27 January 2011. 51 Interview with Xander Seijs, Advisor at the NVVB - telephone, 27 January 2011. 52  gentschap Basisadministratie Persoonsgegevens en Reisdocumenten, “Handleiding A uitvoeringsprocedures”, 75, 333-334. Mapping statelessness