Foreword Today, there are at least 10 million people in the world who are stateless. These are individuals who have been denied a nationality and, as a result, denied access to basic human rights such as education, healthcare, marriage, employment and freedom of movement. Statelessness affects families for generations – a third of the world’s stateless are children. If these children have children of their own, the suffering associated with having no nationality will be passed on. Statelessness and the lack of nationality have a wide and complex range of causes including gaps in nationality law, the emergence of new States and changes in borders, and loss or deprivation of nationality. It can be created through discriminatory practices and seriously affects both populations that consider themselves to be “in their own country” and those in a migration situation. UNHCR has a global mandate to address the plight of statelessness. In consultation with States, civil society and international organizations, UNHCR has recently developed its tenyear Global Action Plan to end statelessness by 2024. It sets out a guiding framework of ten actions that need to be taken to end statelessness. These aim to resolve existing situations of statelessness, prevent new cases, and identify and protect stateless people. Of critical importance to addressing the situation of stateless people, particularly those in a migration context, is the establishment of effective statelessness determination procedures for identifying stateless persons and granting protection status. These help ensure access to fundamental rights provided by the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and international human rights law. They facilitate the granting of legal residence for stateless persons and open a pathway to naturalization. In 2013, the United Kingdom introduced a procedure to identify stateless people and provide them with leave to remain in the UK. This came off the back of research by UNHCR and Asylum Aid on statelessness in the UK, the resulting 2011 report, Mapping Statelessness in the UK, and advocacy. The UK is now one of about a dozen States worldwide with a statelessness determination procedure. Statelessness and Applications for Leave to Remain: A Best Practice Guide seeks to build on the positive momentum of the UK’s move to introduce a statelessness procedure. It gives an overview of the statelessness law framework and provides practical and expert advice for legal representatives navigating what is a complex and developing area of UK law. In doing so, the Best Practice Guide serves as an excellent legal resource for practitioners; it will hopefully contribute to strengthening the quality of legal representation being made on behalf of stateless people in the UK and, ultimately, improving their access to the rights that many of us take for granted. UNHCR is very grateful for this publication and the contribution that the Best Practice Guide makes to statelessness determination and the development of statelessness law in the UK. I sincerely hope that it will provide a valuable tool to practitioners and assist them in working to secure protection for stateless persons. Gonzalo Vargas Llosa UNHCR Representative to the United Kingdom 1