In regard to the practice of registering a child as having “unknown” nationality, UNHCR would like to note that its Guidelines recommend that when a State finds a child to be of undetermined nationality, the State should seek to determine whether the child is otherwise stateless as soon as possible so as not to prolong the child’s status of undetermined nationality.126 Establishing statelessness of a child for the purpose of acquiring Swedish citizenship by notification In cases where a notification is made to the SMA on acquisition of Swedish nationality for a stateless child born in Sweden pursuant to Section 6 of the Act on Swedish Citizenship, or in respect of a stateless child who has been lawfully and habitually residing in Sweden for the past two years, in accordance with Section 7 of the Act (see further below in Section 4.3.1.1), an assessment of the child’s statelessness is conducted by the Citizenship Unit of the SMA, independently from previous assessments undertaken by the other units of the SMA and the Swedish Tax Agency. The Citizenship Unit may however occasionally consult the Swedish Tax Agency regarding the grounds of their determination.127 The Government Bill on the Act on Swedish Citizenship128 states that it is not required that the child’s identity has been fully established in order to consider a child as stateless and therefore entitled to acquire Swedish citizenship through notification pursuant to Sections 6 or 7 of the Act; this is different from the strict requirement to establish identity in naturalization proceedings. As long as the information about the child’s identity is sufficiently clear and it can be established that the child is stateless, the child should be able acquire Swedish nationality, even if the identity of the parents remains unclear to a certain extent. Furthermore, it is stated that even though registering the child with incorrect information may have a negative impact from the point of view of private and family law, the benefit of being able to acquire Swedish nationality and not remaining stateless would outweigh these potential difficulties.129 Nonetheless, the Government Bill specified that the provisions concerning stateless children should only be applicable if it has been confirmed that the child is stateless. The provisions concerning stateless children should not cover children whose nationality has not been established.130 In practice, the Citizenship Unit determines the nationality, or the lack thereof, of a child based solely on whether the child automatically, acquires a nationality at birth by operation of law. If the nationality laws of the parents’ country(ies) of nationality require the parents to take any action, by way of an application or a simple measure such as registering the child with the authorities of the country for the child to acquire a nationality, and the parents have not done so, the child is not considered to have acquired any nationality. Such a child is thereby considered stateless and, if meeting the other criteria, acquires Swedish nationality. It is not taken into account that the child may have a right to acquire another nationality, as the determining factor is the lack of automatic acquisition of nationality at birth.131 This practice of considering as nationals of another country only those children who acquired nationality ex lege at birth has its basis in the Government Bill on the Act on Swedish Citizenship, which states that the more beneficial provisions for the naturalization of stateless persons are reserved only for those who have not themselves taken any measures to become stateless.132 Nonetheless, the standard of proof is high in order for Sections 6 and 7 of the Act on Swedish Citizenship on the acquisition of Swedish nationality through notification for stateless children to be applicable. This is because in both cases it has to be clear that the child is stateless. If the matter remains unclear to any extent, 126 UNHCR, Guidelines, para. 22. 127 Telephone conversation with the SMA, 21 September 2012. 128 Regeringens proposition (1999/2000: 147) Lag om svenskt medborgarskap, available at: http://goo.gl/gqXQwE. 129 Ibid., pp. 38-39. 130 Ibid., p. 39. 131 Ibid., pp. 38-39 and email from SMA, 12 October 2016. 132 Ibid., p. 46, and confirmed by the SMA in email, 12 October 2016. UNHCR STOCKHOLM, 2016 39