PRACTICAL GUIDE ON NATIONALITY 2. Concepts on nationality and statelessness As stipulated by the QR and the Refugee Convention, a key requirement of the international protection regime is that the applicant should be outside of the territory of their country of nationality, and, for stateless applicants, outside of the country of former habitual residence. The country(ies) of nationality or of habitual residence is the country in respect of which the applicant’s need for international protection is to be assessed to determine if they would have a risk of persecution or serious harm in the event of their return (see further in Section 3. Country of reference). Article 3(5) QR – definition of a refugee ‘refugee’ means a third-country national who, owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group, is outside the country of nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of that country, or a stateless person, who, being outside of the country of former habitual residence for the same reasons as mentioned above, is unable or, owing to such fear, unwilling to return to it, and to whom Article 12 does not apply. Article 3(6) QR – definition of a person eligible for subsidiary protection ‘person eligible for subsidiary protection’ means a third-country national or a stateless person who does not qualify as a refugee but in respect of whom substantial grounds have been shown for believing that the person concerned, if returned to his or her country of origin, or in the case of a stateless person, to his or her country of former habitual residence, would face a real risk of suffering serious harm as defined in Article 15, and to whom Article 17(1) and (2) does not apply, and is unable, or, owing to such risk, unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of that country. Whether a person has a nationality or not (and is, therefore, stateless) is a question of legal status. In order to correctly identify an applicant’s nationality (or lack thereof), it is key to properly understand the meaning of nationality and statelessness. Nationality denotes the legal bond that connects an individual to a state. Only a state can grant nationality to an individual ( 44). Holding the nationality of a state confers on its holder specific rights and obligations. Nationality is a legal means to identify a person as belonging to (44) H. Storey, The Refugee Definition in International Law, Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 2024, Section 3.2.1. 15