434 Melbourne University Law Review [Vol 40:401 approach highlight the problems that occur when there is no clear legislative basis for assessing statelessness. B How is the ‘Country of Former Habitual Residence’ Determined? Given that a stateless person is not a national of any country, the relevant country of reference for assessing well-founded fear of being persecuted is the ‘country of his or her former habitual residence’. This is incorporated in the definition of ‘receiving country’ in s 5 of the Migration Act.177 Hathaway and Foster suggest that a country of former habitual residence: is an international legal term of art, assessed on the basis of a wide-ranging inquiry that would ordinarily include consideration of such factors as whether the applicant was lawfully admitted to, and entitled to leave and return to, the country; lived there for a significant period of time; and made it the center of her interests.178 In the decisions examined for the purposes of the present analysis, some decision-makers considered factors such as the applicant’s place of birth; the time spent by the applicant in the ‘receiving country’; identity and travel documentation held by the applicant; and the applicant’s links to the ‘receiving country’ with regard to education and employment in determining the country of former habitual residence.179 In others, the decision-maker simply accepted the applicant’s contention,180 or provided no reasoning at all or made no finding about the applicant’s country of former habitual residence.181 The following Table summarises the places found to be ‘countries of former habitual residence’ in the decisions we considered. 177 The definition notes that for the purposes of the term ‘receiving country’ in the Act, ‘if the non-citizen has no country of nationality — [it means] a country of his or her former habitual residence, regardless of whether it would be possible to return the non-citizen to the country’: Migration Act s 5 (definition of ‘receiving country’ para (b)). 178 Hathaway and Foster, above n 7, 75. 179 1106804 [2011] RRTA 1046 (21 December 2011); 1005911 [2010] RRTA 923 (20 October 2010); 1107430 [2011] RRTA 790 (8 September 2011); 1310456 [2014] RRTA 881 (17 December 2014); 1104223 [2011] RRTA 725 (25 August 2011); 1317610 [2014] RRTA 472 (28 May 2014); 1102027 [2011] RRTA 996 (17 November 2011); 0802865 [2008] RRTA 307 (20 August 2008). 180 1006929 [2010] RRTA 841 (27 September 2010); 1100132 [2011] RRTA 246 (29 March 2011). 181 N05/51687 [2005] RRTA 179 (31 August 2005); 1303526 [2013] RRTA 815 (19 November 2013).