on statelessness in concrete cases. This responsibility may be carried out within different divisions of the Danish Immigration Service during their handling of cases on asylum, family reunification, residence based on EU Law, work permits, etc. Concerning stateless persons who do not have a pending case in the Immigration Service, the competence is placed in the Immigration Service’s division Citizen Service.159 The Danish Immigration Service introduced the statelessness registration procedures in the second half of 2011, after the increased attention paid to statelessness in the wake of the aforementioned ‘statelessness case’. The new procedures are not formalized in law. However, in May 2013, the Parliament adopted an Act amending the Aliens Act on registration of foreigners’ basic personal data.160 Even though the Article 1(1) definition of a stateless person is widely used by the Danish authorities, including the Danish Immigration Service and Statistics Denmark,161 some stateless asylum-seekers in Denmark up to 2012 have had difficulty with obtaining a determination of their statelessness.162 Until mid-2011, there was no direct focus on ‘statelessness determination’, but rather a focus on establishing the identity of the individual asylum-seeker. According to the NUC, which took care of the first registration of asylum-seekers until 2016 when it was substituted by the UCN, when filling in questions on ‘nationality’ in the NUC’s case registration system (POLSAS) the officer had to choose between listing the applicant’s country of origin or the applicant’s nationality status.163 The Danish term ‘nationalitet’ is not commonly used as synonymous with ‘citizenship/nationality’, but rather understood as signifying ‘the country of origin’. This may explain why the applicant’s country of origin was in a number of cases listed under ‘nationality’ – regardless of whether the applicant was ‘a national’ or ‘stateless’.164 The national police realized the flaws of the case registration system in relation to stateless persons and, for the very same reason, established as of 1 January 2012 a database listing necessary information to be filled in, including a checkbox on statelessness. The so-called NUC-list was correlated with POLSAS and since then, statelessness has been registered, initially in accordance with the applicant’s information and documentation, and data security has been ensured. This is a very positive development.165 3.3.1 Competent authority As mentioned above, from 2016 until 2019 the UCN has been responsible for the first registration of spontaneous asylum-seekers arriving in Denmark, and in this connection, registers the asylum-seekers’ nationality or statelessness. The Danish Immigration Service is the responsible authority for issuing foreigners a residence permit and has, as such, the responsibility for registration and determination of foreigners’ statelessness. In practice, the Danish Immigration Service has delegated the competence to determine and register statelessness to its different divisions. At any time, a stateless person present in Denmark may apply for registration and recognition as a stateless person by approaching the Danish Immigration Service. 159 See information on the Citizen Service on New to Denmark, available at: https://bit.ly/2DcFKZg. 160 See the Act No. 430 of 1 May 2013, available at: https://www.retsinformation.dk/forms/r0710.aspx?id=146542. According to Section 48(e) of the Aliens Act, it is now up to the police to register among other things the nationality/statelessness of foreigners who apply for a residence permit. The police’s registration is based on the information provided by the applicant and other available information. Subsequently, when an asylum-seeker has been allowed to stay in Denmark during the processing of his or her case, it is up to the Immigration Service, if necessary, to institute an inquiry to establish said person’s nationality/statelessness. 161 For example, the Article 1(1) definition appears on informational materials about how to obtain an alien’s passport. These passports themselves include an explicit reference to the 1954 Convention’s Article 1(1) definition. See information on passports for foreign nationals on New to Denmark, available at: https://bit.ly/30SNubd. 162 To some extend this may be explained by lack documentation, including identity documents. 163 Interview with the NUC, August 2012. 164 See more about the Danish use of the word ‘nationality’ on the website of EUDO, available at: https://bit.ly/39zp22f. 165 A representative of the National Police explained this during an interview on 24 August 2012. UNHCR Representation for the Nordic and Baltic Countries 45