SUDITA KEITA v. HUNGARY JUDGMENT A. The period from the applicant’s arrival in Hungary until 29 November 2002 5. In 2002 the applicant, who is of Somali and Nigerian descent, arrived in Hungary, crossing the border illegally without valid travel documents. He submitted a request for recognition as a refugee. 6. Under sections 16(1)(c) and (d) of Act no. CXXXIX of 1997 on asylum (“the Asylum Act”), during the ensuing proceedings the applicant was entitled to basic healthcare and employment; it does not appear that he was prevented from getting married either. 7. The Immigration and Citizenship Office ultimately rejected the applicant’s request for refugee status. On 29 November 2002 his appeal was dismissed. B. The period from 29 November 2002 to 19 July 2006 8. On 16 April 2003 the applicant was issued with an expulsion order. The enforcement of the expulsion order was suspended on 7 September 2004 until the preconditions for the measure were fulfilled. In the same year, the applicant unsuccessfully requested a residence permit. 9. During this period, the applicant, as a person subject to an expulsion order and having no regular legal status whatsoever in Hungary, had no entitlement to healthcare or employment. Nor could he exercise the right to marry, because he could not produce any of the documents required for marriage under the relevant provisions of Law-Decree no. 13 of 1979 on international private law and Act no. IV of 1952 on family law (which were in force at that time). C. The period from 19 July 2006 to 19 July 2008 10. Since the applicant could not be returned to Somalia while the civil war was ongoing, and, moreover, the Nigerian embassy in Budapest had refused in a note verbale to recognise him as a citizen sometime in 2006, he was admitted by the Hungarian authorities as an exile (befogadott) on an unspecified date in 2006. 11. It does not appear that the applicant, following the issuance of the note verbale by the Nigerian embassy in Budapest, was informed by the domestic authorities about the possibility of applying for stateless status. The applicable provision of Government Decree no. 114/2007 (V.24.) on the implementation of Act no. II of 2007 (“the Government Decree”) nevertheless requires the immigration authority to inform the person in question about the procedures involved if there is any possibility that he or she should be declared stateless. 2