A meaningful effort to produce reliable estimates of US stateless persons must include an incentive — like the possibility of verifying nationality and employment authorization — to bring forward these isolated and often invisible residents. For the purposes of this initiative, improved data collection is a pre-condition to better estimates of the US stateless population and, thus, to better-informed strategies to reduce statelessness. To this end: • The administration should establish statelessness determination procedures (SDPs), and a voluntary procedure to register and offer temporary status and employment authorization to stateless persons. • DOS, DHS, ORR, and other relevant federal agencies should prioritize the accurate identification of nationality, including statelessness, for every non-citizen they encounter. They should also clarify how nationality data is collected and how determinations of statelessness, “unknown” nationality, and “no” nationality are now made. • DOS and ORR should record— following a statelessness determination— whether entering refugees are stateless. • DOS and ORR should extend efforts to conduct longitudinal surveys of refugees, which include questions that enable them to identify stateless persons.72 • EOIR and DHS should also track and report on asylum outcomes for stateless individuals. • DHS should collect and publish data on stateless persons’ length of detention, both pre- and post-removal order, along with their year of entry, birthplace, and past countries of habitual residence. • The US Census Bureau should collect information on the stateless population in either the ACS or the Current Population Survey (CPS). This recommendation can be implemented by modifying the survey questions on citizenship so that stateless persons can be identified. • The ACS should include questions on foreign-born individuals’ countries of residence prior to entering the United States, in addition to their country of birth. This would facilitate the identification of persons who are potentially stateless or potentially at risk of statelessness and who transited through third countries where they may have secured nationality.73 • The US government should provide training – in collaboration with UNHCR and outside experts— to immigration officials at all levels and in all relevant agencies on how to identify stateless persons. • DHS, DOS and ORR should compile and share, particularly with researches and academics, all o f their r e l e v a n t data o n persons who are potentially stateless or potentially at risk of statelessness in order to facilitate research on these populations and to develop policy 72 Longitudinal surveys will also enable researchers and policymakers to better assess the challenges faced by stateless persons in the United States, and to develop appropriate policy interventions in response. 73 Examples of such a population include Iraqi-born Feyli Kurds emigrating from Iran and Chinese Cambodians emigrating from Vietnam. 77