Understanding and Addressing Statelessness in the UK Compared to Australia The following table demonstrates how further progressed the UK is on this issue. Issue Ratified key international statelessness treaties? The 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness National mapping study of statelessness conducted? Statelessness Determination Procedure? Pathway to naturalisation? UK Yes: both. Australia Yes: both. Yes. Published 2011. In progress. One currently being undertaken by the Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, due to be complete by late 2024. Yes. Entered into force 6 April 2013. No. Yes.lxxxiv If a statelessness application is granted, applicant and any dependent family members usually granted permission to stay in the UK for five years. After five years of statelessness leave, an application can be made for indefinite leave to remain in the UK.lxxxv Limited to children born in Australia to parents who are stateless.lxxxvi No pathway for non-Australian born stateless adults by virtue of their statelessness (i.e. no visa for stateless persons). The past decade within which the UK’s SDP has been in operation also provides Australia with an opportunity to learn from individuals and organisations who have experience navigating the procedure, with an aim to understanding how the UK system could be improved. There have been a number of ongoing concerns identified with the UK SDP’s operation and implementation. lxxxvii These concerns were also emphasised by many of the organisations and individuals I met with during the UK leg of my Fellowship. An audit conducted by the UNHCR of the UK’s SDP identified a range of concerns,lxxxviii including:  Long delays in decision making (there is no time limit on when a decision must be made on a stateless applicationlxxxix);  Issues with the quality of decision making; and 46