Total n umber of documents issued Figure 18: Total number of 1954 Convention Travel Documents issued by the UK Border Agency 2001-2010 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Year applications made Source: UKBA Travel Documents team, received 18 April 2011. Please note the figures quoted are not provided under National Statistics protocols and have been derived from local management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change. Figure 18 above indicates that the numbers of 1954 Convention Travel Documents issued has been increasing consistently year on year and most particularly in the last few years. It has risen from five such documents issued in 2001, to 135 documents issued in 2010. It is likely that this trend reflects an increase in the number of stateless persons granted leave to enter or remain, for periods of over six months, who do not have travel documents reflecting the requirements contained in guidance.91 The trend is likely to be as a result of the work of the Case Resolution Directorate, which has granted leave to enter or remain to significant numbers of asylum-seekers who claimed asylum before March 2007, but had not departed from the UK even though the vast majority had had their claims for asylum refused. This supports the hypothesis that there are a number of asylum-seekers who claim asylum, whose claim fails, but who are unable to leave the UK because no other state will admit them. A further contributing factor to the increase in grants may be that, since 2006, children have been required to make separate applications for travel documents rather than as dependants of their parents.92 When considering all 531 cases, 27 are children under five years of age. Figure 20 below indicates that the UK is the country of birth for 74% of these children. This may indicate that a number of stateless children are able to regularise their immigration status and, subsequently, apply for a stateless travel document. They may be unable to apply for British citizenship under specific stateless provisions because they have not been resident for five years.93 However, an application for discretionary registration could be open to them.94 The fact that these children are not applying for British citizenship may reflect significantly higher fees 50 91 See TD112 Guidance Notes Version 04/2011, available at: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/ sitecontent/applicationforms/traveldocuments/td112-guidance.pdf. 92 Anecdotal information from a semi-structured interview with the Travel Documents Team at UK Border Agency (9 Aug. 2011). 93 In particular, British Nationality Act 1981, Schedule 2, paragraphs 3 and 6. 94 Ibid., section 3(1). Mapping statelessness