5.1 People with an unrecognised claim to South African citizenship Some people who will be considered ‘stateless’ in South Africa have legal claims to South African nationality that they are unable to access for a variety of reasons – for example, due to inability to meet the administrative requirements in order to access citizenship; corruption; or suspicion on the part of Home Affairs officials that they are foreigners trying to fraudulently access South African citizenship.100 Such people born in South Africa could be considered in situ stateless persons, given that they have not crossed an international border. As outlined above, if a person qualifies under the law for nationality but the authorities in question – in this case, Department of Home Affairs or South African foreign missions – do not recognise that person as a national, he or she is stateless in accordance with the UN conventions. Some examples include: citizens whose IDs have been blocked due to suspected fraudulent acquisition; people who are rejected for late registration of birth (the avenue to obtain an ID number); and people who were born abroad to a South African citizen parent, but who cannot meet the requirement of a foreign birth certificate in order to register their birth in South Africa. LHR has found, not surprisingly, that clients with claims to South African citizenship present high success rates in terms of securing nationality. Section 15 of the Citizenship Act is always an option for trouble cases, as it allows the Minister to issue a citizenship certificate ‘in case of doubt.’ For those who have exhausted their options under the Citizenship Act, an exemption for permanent residence (detailed below in section 5.2.1) is the last resort. LHR has made such an application on behalf of a South African who could not satisfy Home Affairs that he is a citizen due to insufficient proof (no proof of birthplace or parentage and no known, living witnesses to testify to his family history). If such an exemption application is rejected, that decision can be taken to court for judicial review or the case can be referred to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for stateless status determination and resettlement to another country. See section 5.3 below. 100 Some people who qualify for South African citizenship under the law are suspected of being foreigners by local Home Affairs officials if they 'look' foreign, have an accent due to spending time living abroad, have one parent who is foreign or often if they live near an international border where informal migration is high. 58 Promoting citizenship and preventing statelessness in South Africa: A practitioner’s guide