a presumed nationality – for a long period of time, this can lead to delays, missed opportunities to resolve nationality problems, and incorrect decisions on protection applications. Early identification of statelessness indicators is not only good practice, but also now a legal obligation under the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum. The Screening Regulation mandates preliminary vulnerability checks by trained personnel to identify individuals who may be stateless, ensuring that their nationality or indicators of statelessness, previous countries of residence, and languages spoken are documented. Beyond the EU, most European States are party to the 1954 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and all are party to the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which guarantees every child the right to acquire a nationality. This means that in all European countries, authorities are legally obliged to address the nationality status of children and ensure every child acquires a nationality. What CAN GUARDIANS DO? Guardians can play an important role in ensuring that statelessness and nationality problems are identified early on, including by: • • • • Informing the child about nationality and statelessness issues Helping gather basic information relevant to birth registration, nationality, and any indicators of statelessness during initial contact and vulnerability assessments Raising concerns with screening authorities where a child’s nationality is unclear, undetermined, or imputed (recorded based on assumptions rather than a formal determination) and asking them to reassess indicators of statelessness where information is incomplete or inconsistent Ensuring children have access to free legal counselling and expert legal assistance on nationality matters (often a different competent authority and/or separate area of law from immigration/asylum matters) 4