2010131 and again in 2011,132 as part of a larger bill known as the Refugee Protection Act (RPA).133 The provisions relating to statelessness authorize the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Attorney General to “provide conditional lawful status to [certain stateless individuals] who [are] otherwise inadmissible or deportable from the United States”.134 Under these provisions, five years after a grant of conditional resident status, a stateless individual becomes eligible to apply for Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) status.135 Once the application for LPR status is approved, the individual becomes immediately eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship.136 An individual who applies for status under these provisions is eligible to request work authorization.137 Upon receipt of conditional lawful status, the spouse or child of that individual may be granted conditional lawful status if they meet certain criteria.138 “Individuals who have lost their nationality as a result of their voluntary action or knowing inaction after arrival in the United States” are not eligible to seek status under these provisions,139 resolving the threshold concern about individuals who may attempt to abuse the law to gain U.S. citizenship.140 © UNHCR/G. Constantine The proposed legislation defines a stateless individual as someone “who is not considered a national under the laws of any country,”141 which differs from the 1954 Convention Solutions for the Stateless in the U.S. defining a stateless individual as “a person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law”.142 The language in the RPA may be subject to a narrower interpretation of who is stateless and thus eligible to receive protection and lawful status in the United States than was contemplated by the 1954 Convention. For example, under the RPA definition, an individual who is without nationality due to the discriminatory application of a citizenship law that should otherwise apply to her might not be considered stateless.143 In view of the longstanding definition contained in the 1954 Convention, its recognition by some international authorities as customary international law,144 and the apparent purpose of the stateless provisions of the RPA to ensure stateless individuals are recognized and accorded access to lawful status in the United States,145 the stateless definition should be understood and applied in a manner consistent with the definition in Article 1(1) of the 1954 Convention. The provisions in the 2011 RPA concerning statelessness could easily be introduced as a stand-alone bill or as part of some other bill, and do not need to be specifically tied to this particular legislative effort. The U.S. Government worked with Congress to refine the statelessness provisions included in the RPA and, consistent with the U.S. commitments made in 2011, has since engaged in outreach to Congress on the possibility of advancing legislation of this sort. These provisions are a strong first step toward addressing the protection concerns of some stateless individuals and, combined with changes in administrative practices including providing greater access to work authorization, would enhance the lives of many stateless individuals in the United States. 29