every five years to renew her permit.229 In Kazakhstan, the stamp duty is 20% of the monthly tax index.230 In Turkmenistan, the stamp duty on a foreigner’s application to enter the country for permanent residence is 50 US Dollars, and processing a permanent residence permit costs a further 30 US Dollars.231 Equivalent details are not available from Uzbekistan. Stateless persons applying for permanent residence permission must also certify their good health in Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Tajikistan requires separate certificates establishing the person is free of mental illness; drug dependency; sexually-transmitted disease; and any other viral infection that could cause epidemic. Kyrgyzstan requires current proof that the applicant has no HIV/AIDS, drug dependency or mental illness.232 Kazakhstan requires a general medical certificate. In all five States the application procedures for permanent residence are exacting and demand a level of documentation that stateless persons may not have – for example, if they have moved frequently across borders. Each of the five States requires the personal ID of the applicant; recent photographs; a birth certificate; proof of statelessness; and a personal history. If stateless persons apply with a family, they must also produce the ID of their spouse; a marriage certificate; the birth certificates of any children, and the notarised written consent of dependents aged between 14 and 18 years. Kyrgyzstan requires that all dependents noted on an application be present when it is submitted. Each adult of sound mind, who wishes to have permanent residence, must make a separate application.233 Tajikistan and Uzbekistan require written confirmation that relatives and residents accept the permanent residence of the applicant in the specific locality.234 Finally, applicants in all five States must produce proof that they have paid the stamp duty on the application. In the survey that UNHCR and its NGO partners carried out in southern Kyrgyzstan, stateless persons spoke of the difficulties they experienced in obtaining residence permits. Their lack of a valid ID prevented them from obtaining the certificates they needed from the authorities of the country where they previously resided. They also spoke of the difficulties involved in dealing with “parallel” procedures: before they could acquire the residence permit they needed to get an official status as an ‘immigrant’. In the surveys carried out in northern Kyrgyzstan, none of the stateless persons questioned said they had a residence permit and this was echoed at UNHCR’s meetings with stateless persons. Those without official documentation doubted they would ever be able to obtain a residence permit because there was no real procedure for acquiring the prerequisite ‘immigrant’ status.235 It is the Ministry of Internal Affairs, acting with the State Security Service, that gives stateless persons permission for permanent residence on State territory, and administers their stay in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. The new State Registration Service fulfills this function in Kyrgyzstan, acting with the national Security Service. In Turkmenistan, these functions are carried out by the State Service for the Registration of Foreign Citizens and Stateless Persons.236 In four of the States, 229 A man from outside the CIS who was in Dushanbe seeking recognition as a stateless person in Tajikistan told UNHCR that he had been required to make unofficial payments of up to 800 US Dollars each year, registering a temporary residence permit. 230 Article 500(3), 2001 Tax Code of Kazakhstan, No 20-11. 231 Regulation of Turkmenistan No 7367 ‘On the Procedure for the Collection of Consular Fees’ (as of 13 July 2005). 232 Article 13, 2008 Regulation No 626 ‘On the Procedure for Issuing Residence Permits in Kyrgyzstan’. 233 Ibid, Article 3. 234 Article 27(d) and (f), 1999 Law No 218 ‘On the Rules of Stay for Foreigners and Stateless Persons’ in Tajikistan, as amended in 2008; Article 9, Enclosure No 2 to 1999 Regulations UP-2240 ‘On Residence Permit in the Republic of Uzbekistan Intended for a Foreign Citizen, Residence Permit in the Republic of Uzbekistan and a Certificate Intended for a Stateless Person’. 235 UN High Commissioner for Refugees, A Place to Call Home. The Situation of Stateless persons in the Kyrgyz Republic: Findings of Surveys Commissioned by the UNHCR, UNHCR Bishkek, 2009, page 35. 236 The Migration Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is responsible for this in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Article 27, 1999 Law No 218 ‘On the Rules of Stay for Foreigners and Stateless Persons’ in Tajikistan, as amended in 2008; Article 18, 2008 Regulation No 626 ‘On the Procedure for Issuing Residence Permits in Kyrgyzstan’; Article 29, Enclosure No 2 to Rules No 315 of Stay for Foreigners and Stateless Persons in Uzbekistan, as amended in July 2001; Presidential Decree No 6133 of February 2003 ‘On the Establishment of the State Service of Turkmenistan on the Registration of Foreign ~ 36 ~