476 Melbourne University Law Review [Vol 40:456 from the application process.110 In the instant case, the Tribunal found that there were ‘significant barriers to the applicant’s acquisition of Cuban citizenship’111 that made it ‘impossible, in any practical sense, for the applicant to acquire Cuban citizenship.’112 The Tribunal found that: The steps that have to be taken amount to an effective prohibition against the applicant’s acquisition of Cuban citizenship. They are not merely ‘procedural’; they are so onerous that they negate his underlying eligibility for Cuban citizenship. The applicant is not entitled to acquire the citizenship of Cuba because the barriers placed in his path by the Cuban government effectively prevent him from doing so.113 As such, the applicant was eligible to become an Australian citizen. The high-profile ‘baby Ferouz’ case raises the question of the application of s 21(8) in relation to babies born to stateless asylum seekers who came to Australia by boat.114 While there is no comprehensive analysis of how many children are in this situation, he is certainly not the only one.115 Evidence 110 KKRG [2015] AATA 635 (27 August 2015) [26] (Deputy President Frost), quoting Re AP [2014] AATA 706 (29 September 2014) [56] (Senior Member Taylor). 111 KKRG [2015] AATA 635 (27 August 2015) [30] (Deputy President Frost). 112 Ibid [31]. 113 Ibid. 114 Plaintiff B9/2014 v Minister for Immigration [2014] FCCA 2348 (15 October 2014), affd (2014) 227 FCR 494. See also Nick Olle, ‘The Law and the Little Boy’, The Global Mail (online), 11 December 2013 <https://law.anu.edu.au/sites/all/files/coast/ the_law_and_the_little_boy_the_global_mail.pdf>; Louisa Rebgetz, ‘Baby Ferouz Not Entitled to Protection Visa, Federal Court Judge Rules’, ABC News (online), 16 October 2014 <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-15/baby-ferouz-not-entitled-to-protection-visajudge-rules/5816456>; Australian Associated Press, ‘Asylum-Seeker Fight for Baby’s Refugee Status Goes to Federal Court’, The Guardian (online), 16 June 2014 <http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/16/asylum-seeker-babys-fight-for-refugeestatus-goes-to-federal-court>; Max Chalmers, ‘Deal Supposed to Help Children Will Likely Send 25 Babies to Offshore Detention’, New Matilda (online), 5 December 2014 <https://newmatilda.com/2014/12/05/deal-supposed-help-children-will-likely-send-25babies-offshore-detention/>; Jane McAdam et al, Submission No 167 to Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee, Migration and Maritime Powers Legislation Amendment (Resolving the Asylum Legacy Caseload) Bill 2014, 31 October 2014, 23--5. 115 A publication by Refugee Advice and Casework Service details that 31 stateless children had been born in Australia at the time of its publication (late 2014): Refugee Advice and Casework Service, Plaintiff B16A by His Litigation Guardian B16B & Ors v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection & Anor (2014). The Australian Human Rights Commission reported that, between 1 October 2013 and the date of the report’s publication in late 2014, ‘at least 12 babies ha[d] been born in detention to mothers who have no recorded nationality’: