Ninety-four percent of maktoumeen and ajanib reported that they do not intend to return to Syria in the future. Focus group discussion participants highlighted the lack of rights in Syria as a main reason for not returning, with male respondents also indicating that they feared arrest or detention for evading military service 7. Respondents also explained that traveling with the informal shahadat at-taarif could pose problems, including potentially detention at checkpoints or border crossings. “I will not return to Syria. There is no future there for us. Life can still be challenging for us here in the camp, but at least we have some rights and it is much better than what we have lived through before,” a maktoum man from Qamishli described in Domiz II Camp. Thirty-three percent of maktoumeen and 9 percent of ajanib intend to travel onwards to third countries. For stateless Kurds that travel beyond KRI, their stateless status may complicate asylum and legal protection efforts. Stateless Syrians claiming asylum outside of the region face credibility, logistical and administrative challenges because of gaps between international refugee status determination procedures and domestic statelessness determination procedures, which many European receiving states lack or have not fully articulated 8. Even in countries with articulated statelessness determination procedures, the distinction between ajanib and maktoumeen Kurds is nearly always unrecognized, although maktoumeen typically face additional barriers to proving their asylum claims because they hold only informal documentation and face greater repercussions in the event they are forced to return to Syria, where they have no options for naturalisation. Additionally, some immigration authorities reportedly assume that the 2011 law addressed Syrian statelessness, and therefore struggle to process claims from ajanib who did not obtain citizenship although they were legally entitled to it 9. Findings Photo caption: Shops line the streets of Domiz 2 Camp for Syrian refugees in Dohuk, KRI. Photo: Caroline Zullo/NRC 12 15