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. 7