Convention definition. Moreover, the 1954 Convention exclusion clauses have not been transposed into national law. However, as international treaties take primacy over national legislation in Montenegro, the Convention may be directly implemented. 21. Applications for statelessness determination should be submitted via regional units of the Ministry of Interior in the applicant’s place of residence, and must be made in writing on a prescribed form in an official language, with the help of a designated official and the assistance of a translator (if needed). Positively, there are no legal residence requirements or time limits for accessing the SDP. However, people who have applied for international protection, or have been granted refugee status or subsidiary protection, are excluded from applying. It is notable that only nine people have been recognised as stateless under the SDP since it was operationalised in November 2018. 22. Procedural and practical issues make the SDP difficult to access. In practice, the procedure is implemented inconsistently by the different regional units and there is a lack of harmonisation on how registration, issuing of certificates, and scheduling interviews take place. There is a lack of information available to potential applicants regarding the procedure, the application requirements are inflexible, and evidentiary rules to assess whether a person is stateless are not yet determined in law. Although authorities are obliged to consider all applications within a given timeframe, in most municipalities, the competent authority will not assess an application unless or until the applicant submits at least a birth certificate, which is not required by law and may be a requirement that is impossible to meet for potential applicants due to the nature of their statelessness. Similarly, although the Rulebook stipulates that an interview should be provided within 15 days of the submission of the application, in practice this is not adhered to.33 Applicants under the SDP are still unable to access free legal aid, as it is not available in any administrative procedure in Montenegro.34 Free legal aid is only available for judicial procedures. Ad hoc training is organised by the Ministry of Interior and UNHCR for public officials who are in direct contact with stateless persons, but there is currently no formal training for judges and lawyers on statelessness. 23. Applicants for statelessness determination have the right to stay in Montenegro while their application is pending and are protected from expulsion and detention. However, applicants do not have the right to work nor access to any other rights or assistance to meet their basic needs. Access to protection and the rights of stateless people 24. Recognition as a stateless person under the SDP does not constitute a dedicated statelessness status in law nor does it result in automatic lawful residence in Montenegro or a renewable residence permit, as a facilitated pathway to Montenegrin nationality. The statelessness status does not ensure access to all other rights as stipulated in the 1954 Convention and in UNHCR guidance. 35 The Ministry of Interior issues travel documents to persons recognised as stateless upon request, which grants permission to stay and provides some rights. Such a travel document is valid for up to one year and must be renewed each year. In practice, the renewal procedure for travel documents is 33 Information gathered through casework by Civil Alliance. For more information see ENS, Statelessness Index – Montenegro at: https://index.statelessness.eu/country/montenegro. 34 Law on Free Legal Aid, Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 020/11 of 15 April 2011, 020/15 of 24 April 2015. 35 UNHCR, Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons under the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, 30 June 2014, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/53b676aa4.html. 6