in 2012 when 19 stateless persons and 3 persons of unknown nationality obtained a temporary residence permit. 3.3 Lack of statelessness determination procedure and the identification of stateless persons in other existing procedures As explained above, there is no formal statelessness determination procedure in Poland. Rather, the assessment of nationality or statelessness comes to light principally in relation to immigration procedures. Registration of statelessness appears to be a part of the overall evaluation that takes place when a person applies for a visa, residence permit, or international protection in Poland. The “determination” is, thus, in reality an evaluation that takes place when the applicant has to establish his or her identity and nationality as part of his or her application for a residence permit or international protection, rather than a determination that could lead to establishing of a statelessness status per se. No determination of the status of statelessness takes place with respect to persons who are, for example, rejected asylum-seekers but who are later found to be “unreturnable,” potentially as a result of their statelessness. 3.3.1 Identifying stateless persons in protection proceedings Stateless individuals may be among those who apply for international protection. The nationality or statelessness of the applicant is taken into account within the overall assessment of the application for asylum, as the country of origin is an important factor in establishing a well-founded fear of persecution or risk of serious harm. Statelessness is not in itself a ground for granting refugee status or subsidiary protection. Even if statelessness may be seen as a form of persecution (for example, in cases of arbitrary deprivation of citizenship), jurisprudence concerning this issue remains scarce.73 In Poland, the Office for Foreigners took into account statelessness when dealing with the application for asylum of a stateless Rohingya.74 Yet, according to Polish jurisprudence, statelessness does not, as a rule, lead to the granting of refugee status. 3.3.1.1 INITIATING THE PROCEDURE The application for international protection has to be lodged in person through the Commanding Officer of the nearest Border Guard Post who forwards the application to the competent authority (Head of the Office for Foreigners). The application is lodged using a standard form. The required data is entered by the Border Guard Officer, based on the information provided orally by the applicant and submitted documents. The form includes a section on the country of origin, ethnic origin and citizenship of the applicant. If the applicant has no identity documents, the data on nationality is initially entered in the form based on the applicant’s oral statements. 28 73 M. Fullerton, Comparative Perspectives on Statelessness and Persecution, 2015, available at: https://bit.ly/2kzBbzj 74 Halina Niec Legal Aid Center (HNLAC), The Invisible – Stateless Persons in Poland, cited above. MAPPING STATELESSNESS IN POLAND