be understood as stable, factual residence, and the 1961 Convention does not permit Contracting States
to make an application for the acquisition of nationality by individuals who would otherwise be stateless
conditional upon lawful residence.217 In light of the recent, albeit temporary, restrictions introduced on the
granting of permanent residence permits to persons granted asylum in Sweden,218 coupled with the increase
in the number of stateless persons seeking asylum in Sweden over the past year and the corresponding
increase in the number of stateless persons with temporary residence permits registered, the requirement
of permanent residence is likely to affect a considerable number of children born stateless in Sweden each
year.
Hence, Sections 6, 7 and 8, when considered together, meet most of the requirements of Article 1(2) of
the 1961 Convention. However, the requirement pertaining to a permanent residence permit remains
problematic as this will exclude children born stateless in Sweden from acquiring Swedish citizenship at
birth or soon after birth, especially after the previous rule of generally granting both Convention refugees
and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection permanent residence has been temporarily changed as of 20 July
2016. UNHCR would thus recommend reviewing how the recent changes will affect the ability of children
born on the territory, who would otherwise be stateless, to avail themselves of their right to a nationality
pursuant to the 1961 Convention and the CRC.
The following tables show the number of persons who were born in Sweden and registered in the Population
Register as stateless, or with “unknown” nationality, during the years 2011 to 2015.
Table 9: Number of stateless persons and persons of “unknown” nationality registered in the Population
Register during the years 2011-2015 as born in Sweden, by age219
2011
2012
Age
Stateless
Unknown
Age
Stateless
Unknown
0-4
2,172
1,105
0-4
2,546
1,503
5-11
396
65
5-11
458
330
12-17
151
27
12-17
116
104
18-19
45
11
18-19
44
43
20-39
125
12
20-39
122
162
40>
5
4
40>
5
63
Total
2,894
1,224
Total
3,291
2,205
2013
62
2014
Age
Stateless
Unknown
Age
Stateless
Unknown
0-4
3,159
1,732
0-4
3,389
2,817
5-11
484
295
5-11
561
277
12-17
113
99
12-17
97
96
18-19
18
16
18-19
19
16
20-39
134
182
20-39
124
181
40>
6
63
40>
6
63
Total
3,914
2,387
Total
4,196
3,450
217
UNHCR, Guidelines, para. 41.
218
Lag om tillfälliga begränsningar av möjligheten att få uppehållstillstånd i Sverige (2016: 752), which entered into force on 20 July 2016,
available at: https://goo.gl/r347QJ.
219
Data from Statistics Sweden, 3 October 2012, email from Statistics Sweden, 29 September 2016 and 30 September 2016.
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