Protection during the procedure and risk of arbitrary detention
27. Stateless persons face a heightened risk of arbitrary detention particularly where
procedural safeguards to identify and determine statelessness and related barriers to
removal are lacking.39 Moreover, when the Home Office fails to address the particular
vulnerabilities of some stateless persons they can be detained arbitrarily and for
disproportionate periods of time.40
28. The UK Government’s lack of recognition of statelessness as a protection issue leads to
futile removal efforts and lengthy immigration detention, which violate the right to
liberty. As applicants for residence permits under the SDP do not have the right to stay in
the UK, they may be detained. The detention is unlawful if it is for the purposes of
removal and there is no realistic prospect of removal. As seen above, statistics show that
at least 229 stateless people entered immigration detention in 2020, and likely more.
29. During an SDP, applicants should be considered ‘lawfully in’ the territory for the purposes
of the 1954 Convention and are entitled to several rights, including to accessing identity
documents and being protected from expulsion and detention. There is no automatic right
for an applicant to stay in the UK during the SDP, applicants do not have the right to work,
and there is no protection against expulsion. If a person applies for a residence permit
under the SDP, they may still be removed where the person does not have extant leave in
any other capacity and an Emergency Travel Document (ETD) has been issued, as that is
accepted as evidence that the person is re-admissible to the country of return. Applicants
who have been refused asylum and are destitute (or imminently so) are potentially eligible
for very basic shelter and support, but the support is subject to review by the Home Office
and requires the applicant to show that they are continuing to take steps to leave the UK,
sometimes even when the person has applied for a residence permit on the grounds of
statelessness.41 UNHCR recommended in its 2020 audit report that applicants under the
residence permit procedure should have the same access to protection and rights as
asylum seekers.
Routes to naturalisation
30. According to the 1954 Convention,42 the UK is bound to “as far as possible facilitate the
assimilation and naturalisation of stateless persons”, and “make every effort to expedite
naturalisation proceedings and to reduce […] the charges and costs of such proceedings”.
However, in the UK, naturalisation is not facilitated for stateless persons, including
children, who are not exempt from paying very high fees to acquire British citizenship.43
Stateless persons are eligible to apply for naturalisation generally after five years’ lawful
residence and one additional year of permanent residence, in line with refugees and
persons with subsidiary protection (if they meet other criteria for naturalisation). This
does not put them in a more advantageous position than most other people applying for
naturalisation.
39
European Network on Statelessness (2017), Protecting Stateless Persons from Arbitrary Detention: An Agenda for Change:
https://www.statelessness.eu/sites/www.statelessness.eu/files/attachments/resources/ENS_LockeInLimbo_Detention_Agend
a_online.pdf
40
European Network on Statelessness (2017), Protecting Stateless Persons from Arbitrary Detention: A regional toolkit for
practitioners: https://www.statelessness.eu/sites/www.statelessness.eu/files/ENS_Detention_Toolkit.pdf
41 Information from Asylum Aid’s casework.
42 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, 1954, Article 32.
43
British nationality application fees are currently set at £1,330 for adults and £1,012 for children.
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