Statelessness in Czechia | January 2024 • • • • 21 employment records or evidence proving impossibility to be employed social welfare records or other evidence of restricted access to social services records relating to failed efforts by the individual to travel to a country of possible nationality or former habitual residence or failed efforts to remove the individual to another country, or any other relevant documentation issued by immigration authorities or border control a list of people who have been deprived of citizenship or other evidence of deprivation of nationality relating to the applicant, a family member, or an associate Evidence that may be useful to assess in relation to the relevant country(ies) includes, but is not limited to: • • • news articles or reports that discuss statelessness relevant to the person’s situation in the country of origin extracts of relevant nationality laws, ideally combined with an expert report or other evidence to provide appropriate context and comment on their implementation in practice and any differences between regions expert reports about the nationality laws, birth registration, and related practices of relevant countries and/or relating to their specific circumstances This is not an exhaustive list. Often there will not be much evidence. Other types of evidence may be relevant in some situations. Some of these pieces of evidence will clearly carry more weight than others, and much may depend on whether an official believes a person’s testimony. As with refugees, stateless people should be given the benefit of the doubt: i.e., the statements of a person applying for recognition as a stateless person should be accepted unless there are strong reasons and evidence to indicate that their testimony is not accurate with respect to material factors. Some stateless people will know what evidence is available to support their claims (if any) and be able to explain their situations chronologically and coherently, while others will not.41 The Immigration Act does not list what specific evidence and documents will be used as sources for the decision. It only lists the documents to be submitted by the applicant. However, in principle, it should be analogous to the standard of proof applied in decisionmaking on asylum applications, as confirmed by case law. The courts have confirmed the necessity of similarity to the asylum procedure, and therefore the MoI should bear the responsibility to find evidence to prove or disprove statelessness. 42 The UNHCR Statelessness Handbook confirms that a statelessness determination procedure should be formalised in law to ensure fairness, transparency, and clarity of the procedure.43 It is important to ensure that certain procedural safeguards are guaranteed so that the dignity and safety of stateless people is ensured. Therefore, at least the following safeguards should be incorporated or ensured: • • • 41 Information on eligibility criteria and the determination procedure is accessible Right to have an interview with a decision-making official is respected Applicants have access to good quality interpretation and translation Further information about how to adequately evidence a statelessness application is available in this Best Practice Guide (relating to in the UK, but relevant in other countries; see Section C16 in particular). 42 See Case Law Database 43 UNHCR’s Statelessness Handbook, paragraph 71.