concept of hemvist, which best translates as “lawful and habitual residence”,107 as the basis for determining which country the well-founded fear or future risk assessment should be made against. While the Aliens Act, Chapter 4, Section 1 differentiates between a refugee and a stateless refugee and refers to country of nationality and country of former habitual residence respectively, such distinctions did not seem to be made in the asylum assessments and decisions prior to the adoption of the aforementioned Judicial Position, in March 2016. Hence, the decisions reviewed within the scope of this research referred to hemvist and home country, regardless of whether the applicant in question was a national of the country or not.108 The only decision that bears any legal effect in the asylum procedure is the one to grant a residence permit or not. Therefore, even if an asylum applicant has been assessed to be stateless in the context of establishing his or her identity, and this is mentioned in the definition, that assessment does not mean that the person has been legally determined to be a stateless person. The only decisions with regard to nationality which are declaratory and legally binding are those made on Swedish nationality. As a general rule, applications for residence permits other than asylum shall be submitted outside of Sweden and granted before the person concerned enters the country, in accordance with the Aliens Act Chapter 5, Section 18. A requirement for a residence permit to be granted is that the applicant is in possession of a valid travel document, normally a national passport; persons who do not have a valid travel document cannot be considered for a residence permit in Sweden.109 As the grant of a residence permit depends on whether the person fulfils the prescribed requirements, the nationality or home country of the applicant is not relevant in the assessment of the application. If the travel document of the applicant indicates that the person is stateless, he or she is normally accepted and recorded as stateless.110 Therefore, the need for determining a person’s possible statelessness in the other immigration procedures is minimal. When a child is born in Sweden to immigrant parents, the parents need to apply for a residence permit for the child. In such cases, an assessment of the child’s nationality is conducted, to a certain extent, by the SMA. It is not an extensive determination because the child’s nationality is not relevant for granting the residence permit. The relevant factors are whether the parent(s) have a residence permit in Sweden and if the child actually is their child. The SMA obtains information about the child recorded by the Swedish Tax Agency in the Population Register. In cases where the SMA comes to a different conclusion than the Swedish Tax Agency regarding the child’s nationality, the SMA cannot change the nationality indicated in the Population Register; therefore, the two registers may contain different information on the child’s nationality, or lack thereof. The SMA’s determination of nationality, if different from the Swedish Tax Agency’s, is only explained in the decision regarding the residence permit. Whether a change is made in the Population Register by the Swedish Tax Agency, based on the determination of nationality by the SMA, depends on whether the applicants share the SMA decision with the Swedish Tax Agency, and whether the Swedish Tax Agency decides to register it accordingly.111 107 The term “hemvist” in the context of the nationality legislation means habitual residence in Sweden with the intention to remain in the longer term. It does not require registration in the Population Register or a minimum number of years of residence, though the residence must be lawful. The focus is on the intention to stay in Sweden. See Proposition (1997/98: 178) Medborgarskap och identitet, p. 9, MIG 2008: 17 and MIG 2013: 22. 108 Conclusion drawn by the consultant based on her review of 24 asylum decisions made by the SMA during the first nine months of 2012 in respect of stateless asylum-seekers and applicants of “unknown” nationality. 109 However, some exceptions are made in respect of children and parents who can prove their kinship through DNA testing, if the applicant is a national or habitual resident of country where it is impossible to obtain a travel document accepted by Sweden; this practice is primarily applied in respect of applicants from Somalia. 110 Telephone conversation with the SMA, 28 September 2012. 111 Ibid. See also Section 2.2.1 which refers to the lack of an automated system for harmonization of information contained in the respective registers. UNHCR STOCKHOLM, 2016 35