camp in Thailand. Some families have had their children born in Japan after being admitted to Japan. For example, a married couple, B and C, admitted to Japan through resettlement had a child born in 2012, hereinafter referred to as D . (1) Acquisition of Myanmar nationality D, however, has never been registered with the embassy of Myanmar. B and C were born in Myanmar but were previously in a refugee camp in Thailand, and they came to Japan with a travel document issued by the Japanese authorities. B and C do not possess a Myanmar passport. Under the 1982 Citizenship Act of Myanmar, a child of parents who are both Myanmar nationals is supposed to acquire Myanmar nationality by birth. However, the embassy of Myanmar in Japan has certain requirements such as the submission of the parents’ valid Myanmar passports in order for the children’s birth to be registered. B and C, as stated above, do not have a valid passport. Furthermore, as they have been admitted to Japan as refugees fearing persecution in Myanmar, they are afraid of approaching the embassy of Myanmar. B and C have not gone to the embassy and D has not been able to be registered as a Myanmar national. In light of the above circumstances, D is at risk of becoming a stateless person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law. (2) Administrative response by Japan The Japanese authorities consider them all—including B, C, and their children born in a refugee camp in Thailand and in Japan, including D—to be equally of Myanmar nationality. The “nationality etc.” column of their alien registration certificate (issued before the law reform relating to alien registration) and the “Nationality/area of origin” column of their foreigner residence card (issued after the law amendment) both list “Myanmar”. 4. Possible size of Category D (1) Circumstances of the persons who have not been (able to be) recognized formally as refugees The persons in the above cases 7 and 8 are not treated as 1951 Convention refugees because they have not formally been recognized as refugees by the Japanese authorities.160 They represent those who, in reality and substantively, have (or used to have) qualifications as Convention refugees at least to a certain extent, and for this refugee-related reason, they may possibly not be recognized as nationals by the State of which they are supposed to have nationality. Persons within this category are in principle 160 There are some Indochinese refugees who applied for and were granted refugee status, although the number is small. 74