The Plight of the Rightless: Mapping and Understanding Statelessness in Tripoli-V1.3 The New Lebanese Nationality Program On November 2015, the Lebanese Parliament adopted Law 41 “Reacquiring the Lebanese Citizenship” under which members of the Lebanese diaspora may reacquire the Lebanese citizenship in case they fulfil one of two conditions: if the applicants have their name or the names of their paternal ancestors, or second degree male relatives on their father's side, listed (i) on the records of the census of 1921-1924, either residents or immigrants’ registers, or (ii) on the records of the census of 1932, immigrants’ registers, available at the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities. The law consists of a unique article stating the conditions and required documents for the application. The political and religious grounds for this law, mainly favoured by Christian political parties aiming at readjusting the demographic balance, created a major inequity between two categories of right holders: applicants for citizenship living on the Lebanese territory on the one hand, and foreign nationals of Lebanese origin living abroad on the other hand. In fact those requesting the Lebanese nationality and living in Lebanon need to go through a long and cumbersome procedure to prove their affiliation and their residency before judicial courts, and have to wait for extended periods of time waiting for the latter’s decision. Whereas those living abroad have a specific and trackable procedure with specific time limits for each phase. Based on the unique article of Law 41/2015, a special committee is assigned to look into the files of those who wants to re-acquire the Lebanese nationality. This reduces the costs and the burden of a complicated judicial procedure that those living on the Lebanese territory have to go through. When it comes to the requested documents nothing is mentioned about the DNA, the proof of filiation or other similarly expensive documents, which have often led applicants living on the Lebanese territory to abandon the process sometimes before even starting it effectively. This law, which is only effective for 10 years and will expire in 2025 is in sharp contrast with the current nationality law and the 1951 Law of Documenting Personal Status that stateless people have to follow in order to register and legalise their status. Major differences are highlighted in the table below. 51