Statelessness Working Paper Series 2017/04 it might be difficult for the father to submit such legal documents, preventing the filiation with the child to be established. Finally, the situation of children of long-term refugees raises questions: Even though they should automatically acquire a nationality based on the Syrian legislation, they might still be at risk of statelessness if they can cannot approach their authorities to obtain the necessary identity documents. Children of beneficiaries of subsidiary protection could similarly be affected if the parents deserve refugee status but could not sufficiently substantiate their claim. Finally, governments often use nationality as a weapon against the opposition, stripping persons of their nationality or refusing to grant it to their children.34 Based on this analysis of the Syrian context, the following cases where a child born in Belgium to parents from Syria is at risk of statelessness have been identified: - a child born to stateless parents (including Maktoumeen and Ajnabi Kurds, as well as Palestinians) - a child born to a single Syrian or stateless mother - a child born to a Syrian mother and a stateless father - a child born to Syrian parents where the filiation with the father is not established - a child born to Syrian parents who are long-term refugees Before introducing the applicable legal framework on statelessness prevention at birth in Belgium that would prevent these children from being stateless, the following section presents the different legal statuses an asylum seeker might hold in Belgium, as it can have an impact on the applicable legislation. 3. Asylum Seekers' Statuses Under Belgian Law The Belgian legislation applicable to the prevention of childhood statelessness can differ depending on the legal status of the person in Belgium. Therefore, it is important to see in which category asylum seekers from Syria can belong to in order to analyse the related impact on the risk of statelessness of their child born in Belgium. This article identifies five different statuses a person from Syria might fall under once on Belgian territory. The first is that of registered asylum seeker. Any person who submitted an asylum application at the Immigration Office in Belgium holds the status of registered asylum seeker throughout the whole refugee status determination procedure by the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGRS). At the end of such a process, three scenarios are possible. In the first case, the person is granted asylum and holds the status of refugee. In the second case, the person is not recognized as a refugee but is nonetheless granted subsidiary protection. These persons are referred to as beneficiaries of subsidiary protection. In the third case, the application is rejected and the person who at this stage stays in Belgium will be considered a migrant in irregular stay. This case is currently unlikely in Belgium as the recognition rate of Syrians as either refugees or beneficiaries of subsidiary protection approaches 100%.35 Asylum-seekers who reside in Belgium but have not submitted an asylum application in Belgium and have not authorization to stay in the country will also be considered migrants in irregular stay. These could be persons in transit in Belgium, wishing to have their asylum procedure processed in another country, which could be a consequence of the 34 Z. Albarazi and L. van Waas, Statelessness and displacement, 2016, p. 23. For 2015, the recognition rate was of 97,64% for Syrians while in July 2016 this recognition rate was still of 97%. See: CGRS, Statistiques d'Asile: Rapport Mensuel, Décembre 2015, 7 January 2016, http://www.cgra.be/sites/default/files/statistiques_asile_decembre_2015_0.pdf; CGRS, Statistiques d'Asile: Rapport Mensuel, Juillet 2016, 18 August 2016, http://www.cgra.be/sites/default/files/statistiques_asile_juillet_2016_fr.pdf. 35 5