Similarly, while a form of protection (including some kind of immigration status), may be necessary in the short term, grant of residence may not be necessary where an individual can acquire or re-acquire nationality of another State within a reasonable period of time through simple, accessible and purely formal procedures, where the authorities do not have any discretion to refuse to take the necessary action.”151 4.4.4 Identity and Travel Documents The 1954 Convention makes specific provision to ensure that stateless persons are able to obtain identity documents and, if lawfully staying on the territory, travel documents. The two relevant provisions “are intended to act in conjunction to ensure that every stateless person benefits from one form of documentation or another”.152 Article 27 of the 1954 Convention provides: “The Contracting State shall issue identity papers to any stateless person in their territory who does not possess a valid travel document”. A leading commentary on the 1954 Convention sets out the nature of the obligation that this places on state parties to the Convention: “The ‘identity papers’ with which Article 27 deals are for internal use, as contrasted with the ‘travel documents’ to be used for journeys abroad. It is a paper certifying the identity of a stateless person (certificate of identity) and, in countries with a passport system, a substitute for a ‘domestic’ passport. Contrary to other articles, Article 27 deals with ‘any stateless person in their territory’, thus indicating verbally that neither residence nor even lawful presence is required. All that is necessary, is that the stateless person be physically in the territory of the given state. It was made clear in the Refugee Conference that this Article in no way impaired the right of Contracting States to control the admission and sojourn of refugees in other words, the issuance of an identity paper does not obligate the state to keep the stateless person within its borders. “The Convention does not prescribe the nature of the identity papers. As said, they may be temporary or final; they need not be official papers in the sense used in Europe and may [simply] consist of a document showing the identity of the [the stateless person]. In countries where no identity papers are required or issued, Article 27 would not impose on stateless persons an obligation to possess one because its purpose is only to safeguard the interests of the stateless persons, and not to stigmatize them in any way.”153 There is no provision in UK immigration law that allows for stateless persons who do not possess travel documents to apply to the UK Border Agency to be recognised as stateless and obtain identity documents if they do not have a valid travel document. This gap appears to conflict with the UK’s international obligations.154 151 UNHCR, Geneva Summary Conclusions, paras. 25 and 27. 152 Van Waas, L., Nationality Matters: Statelessness under International Law, Intersentia, 2008, p. 374, citing Goodwin-Gill, G., and McAdam, J., The Refugee in International Law, Oxford University Press, 2007, p. 515. 153 Robinson, N., The Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. Its History and Interpretation, UNHCR, 1955, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4785f03d2.html. 154 There are specific provisions in UK law and policy to provide an Application Registration Card to asylum-seekers, the card is issued only to asylum-seekers and does not claim to constitute identity papers. See UK Border Agency. Asylum Policy Instruction Application Registration Card, July 2006, available at: www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/policyandlaw/ asylumpolicyinstructions/apis/applicationregistrationcard.pdf?view=Binary. in the United Kingdom 73