Addressing statelessness in Europe’s refugee response acceptance letter to sign, it said again ‘Kuwaiti’, which was later changed on my official ID. In the [municipality] they said that they can only register me as stateless if I have a passport as proof, otherwise they would register me as ‘nationality unknown'. (Kuwaiti bidoon interviewed in the Netherlands) There appeared to be less understanding among officials in the Netherlands of the nationality problems faced by bidoon from Kuwait, than Palestinians for example. This may be due to a longer history of migration of Palestinians to the country and more general societal awareness of their situation. In the case of the bidoon interviewee, it was only due to his persistence and research including reading a UNHCR study on statelessness in the Netherlands - that he was able to persuade the municipality to seek advice from the immigration authorities and finally register his statelessness correctly. The resources and persistence required by interviewees to successfully pursue registration as stateless is far beyond what can or should be expected. The lack of knowledge and importance given to statelessness by the authorities in all three countries was apparent and caused significant challenges for regularisation of status and access to rights. Authorities tended to expect proof of someone’s statelessness, which rarely exists. Most interviewees had no documents at all, with some perceiving this to be key to how they were treated by the authorities: ‘Maybe the police would have been less suspicious of me in both Greece and Turkey if I had had a proper document.’ (Syria Kurd interviewed in Greece) It is particularly concerning that the women and men interviewed for this research are from communities whose statelessness is well documented. The lack of understanding and interest on the part of the authorities across the research sites, even towards these well-known stateless populations, is evident. This serves to highlight the urgent need to address how statelessness is understood in the context of forced migration in Europe and to examine the challenges facing not only these well-known populations, but also less well-known stateless groups, as well as those who lack a nationality or are at risk of statelessness due to their specific and individual circumstances. The impact of being stateless and a refugee Interviewees articulated the impact of statelessness both on their lives in their countries of origin and on their experiences as a refugee in Europe. The difficulties they had faced in their countries of origin included not having any right to documentation, restricted access to formal education, lack of access to healthcare, no right to work, fear of the authorities, and a constant fear of detention. For many, the impact of limited access to schooling meant they were either illiterate or semi-literate, which in their view significantly impacted on their experiences in Europe. Three of the interviewees in Greece said this had influenced their ability to learn Greek and understand the bureaucracy around them. For them, a few hours a week of classes in Greece was the first time they had accessed any structured education. The bureaucracy encountered by interviewees was complicated and challenging, and even more so for people who have been excluded from state bureaucracy and had limited access to education over the course of their lives. 7