Birth registration and the prevention of statelessness in Europe In Czechia, the parents of a child who does not acquire Czech nationality at birth should apply for a visa on their behalf at which point the Czech authorities will determine the child's nationality. In case of doubt, parents must apply for a Certificate of Czech Citizenship. In Germany, officials will check whether a child of foreign parents has acquired German nationality by birth. However, there is a risk that children are left in limbo for more than five years as the relevant documents to obtain a birth certificate (rather than an extract) from the registrar that support the process to determine the identity and nationality can be submitted later, and there is no time limit for the procedure. In Switzerland, the child’s nationality is recorded on the birth certificate and determined based on the parents’ documents. The Federal Office for Civil Registration has issued guidance but there is no legal basis for nationality determination and practice may vary at cantonal level. The child's nationality can be recorded at a later stage if relevant information becomes available, but there are no safeguards to ensure that authorities check ex officio whether nationality can be established at a later stage. In Norway, the nationality of the child and the parents is recorded on the birth notification form by the doctor or the midwife when the child is born and then submitted to the National Registry. The National Registry’s Handbook on Population Registration provides instructions on registering nationality in different types of cases and must correct the record if subsequent information emerges about the child’s nationality status. If a person claims to be stateless or there is doubt about a child’s identity, the National Registry official must refer the case to the immigration authority. Norway’s National Registry Handbook instructs officials to register children born to non-Nordic parents with different nationalities with the mother’s nationality (unless otherwise highlighted in the birth notification). In most other countries, in the absence of dedicated procedures, at best, general rules may apply to determine a child’s nationality and later correct any errors in how this may have been recorded at birth registration. Officials responsible for recording nationality in the birth registry often lack guidance, training, and tools to facilitate accurate identification of where a child may be stateless and subsequent determination of their nationality (or statelessness). It is also often unclear what happens in the case of children born to refugees where the child should acquire a nationality from their parents through jus sanguinis, but the parents are unable to contact the authorities of their country of nationality because they are seeking or have been granted international protection. Some countries have provisions in place to ensure that children born to refugees can acquire a nationality. For example, in Belgium, parents who are unable to apply to the diplomatic or consular authorities of their country of origin because they are refugees are exempt from doing so as a prerequisite for their child born in Belgium to acquire Belgian nationality. Most countries in the Statelessness Index lack formal procedures for determining the nationality or statelessness of a child born on their territory to non-nationals. In some countries the nationality of the child (and/or parents) is recorded at birth registration, and in others it is not. In countries where the child’s nationality is routinely recorded at birth registration, officials often have discretion and little guidance as to what to record in the nationality field where parents are non-nationals. This can lead to varying practice and a risk that statelessness remains unidentified. In some countries, the nationality field is simply left blank where there is a doubt about nationality (for example in Croatia, Cyprus, North Macedonia, and Slovenia) and no further action taken; in others, the child is recorded as having ‘unknown’ nationality (for example in Belgium, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Sweden); and in others, nationality may be assumed without verification 15