UUM Journal of Legal Studies, 13, No. 1 (January) 2022, pp: 345–380 have identified groups of stateless children (who were actually migrant children) in Sabah, as follows: a. Children born to migrant parents of Filipino origin (they did not hold a Malaysian identity card or a Filipino passport) who were without any proper documentation. These migrant parents either refuse or withhold their Filipino passport or came to Sabah illegally (Lumayag, 2016. pp.198-199 & Allerton, 2014. p.4). b. Children who belonged to second-generation immigrants whose parents originally held an IMM 137 visa and claimed refugee status were often a common problem in Sabah because their parents did not renew their visitor pass card. The IMM13 visa is a visitor pass issued by the Department of Immigration, Malaysia according to Regulation 11, Immigration Regulations 1963 (Peruntukan Peraturan 11 Peraturan-Peraturan Imigresen 1963) (Afzan Abd Kahar, 2012). The research findings of Lumayag (2016, p.198) and Allerton (2014, p.4) established that many immigrants upon acquiring the IMM 13 status deemed it as permanent. Therefore, they did not bother to renew it. The children born of parents who were either of Indonesian or Filipino descendants and had the IMM13 ‘refugee’ cards would remain in Sabah or wilfully stay on in Sabah. c. Children who were undocumented and were left behind in Sabah when their parents (migrants without documentation or travel documents) were repatriated to the southern Philippines, often remained stateless. Some parents feared authorities would leave their children unattended, without a guardian or proper custody during frequent raids. In some instances, undocumented stateless children did not go to schools as they worked in the fish cage farming industry in Sandakan. In instances when they were arrested by the Sandakan police and sent to prison before their deportation, the parents were left with no choice but to bring along their children to the prison. After the deportation of their parents, most of the children would return to work to earn 7 The IMM13 is a document issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Malaysia to the Filipino refugees (and illegal immigrants) who have a special permission to stay in Malaysia according to the terms and conditions laid out by the Ministry. 352