SUDITA KEITA v. HUNGARY JUDGMENT 12. As a result of this state of affairs, on 19 July 2006 a humanitarian residence permit was issued to the applicant, which was valid until 19 July 2008. 13. During this two-year period, he was entitled to basic healthcare and employment, in accordance with section 21 of the Asylum Act; again, it does not appear that he was prevented from getting married during this period. D. The period from 25 September 2008 to 11 October 2017 14. Subsequently, the Immigration Authority reviewed the applicant’s exile status and, on 25 September 2008, it established that he could not be accepted either as a refugee or as a protected person, and that no prohibition on refoulement existed regarding Nigeria. The applicant challenged that ruling in court unsuccessfully, despite the fact that Nigeria had already refused to recognise him as a citizen. As a result, he again lost his entitlement to basic healthcare, employment and marriage since he had no recognised status or valid documents. 15. On 2 November 2009 the deportation of the applicant to Nigeria was ordered. His subsequent appeal was to no avail. However, the deportation order was ultimately not enforced. 16. On 16 September 2010 the applicant submitted a request for stateless status after being informed by a lawyer about that possibility. The request was refused on 18 November 2010. The applicant challenged this decision in court. 17. On 2 February 2012 the Budapest High Court granted the applicant stateless status. On appeal, on 17 October 2012, the Budapest Court of Appeal reversed that decision and refused the request; its ruling was upheld by the Kúria on 11 December 2013. The principal reason given was that the relevant section 76(1) of Act no. II of 2007 on the admission and right of residence of third-country nationals (“the RRTN Act”) required “lawful stay in the country” as a precondition for granting stateless status. 18. Subsequently, on 10 December 2012, the applicant relaunched the procedure for recognition as stateless. After an initial refusal on 5 June 2013, the first-instance court asked the Constitutional Court to declare unconstitutional the requirement of “lawful stay” in the territory of Hungary in connection with the establishment of stateless status. 19. The Constitutional Court accommodated the court’s request and, by a decision of 23 February 2015, removed the “lawful stay” requirement from the RRTN Act with effect from 30 September 2015. It held in particular that the requirement in issue contravened public international law obligations ratified by Hungary, notably the 1954 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (see paragraph 23 below). 3