If the person is determined to be stateless, the decision does not specify if the person is considered to be voluntarily or involuntarily stateless.111 DECISIONS, TOTAL 2010 2011 2012 1428 1500 2106 Source: Migri, http://www.migri.fi/tietoa_virastosta/tilastot/kansalaisuustilastot Statistics according to the content of the decisions made in the determination of citizenship status procedure are currently not available. The only statistics that provide some information regarding the content of the decisions are the statistics regarding persons whose citizenship has been determined in the procedure in 2011 and 2012 according to the nationality that they are registered with currently in the RA. These statistics are therefore not 100% accurate in respect of the citizenship status at the time of the decision, but give an idea of the numbers of different types of decisions. According to these statistics, out of the persons whose citizenship status was determined in 2011 and 2012, 79 were registered as stateless, 37 with nationality not known and 21 with unknown nationality as of October 2012. In comparison, 920 were registered as Finnish nationals.112 Information regarding the countries of birth or previous habitual residence of persons for whom a request and a decision of citizenship status determination has been made is not available. Information regarding the persons status, e.g. whether the person resides in Finland with a residence permit, the type of permit, whether her or his application for asylum or other type of residence permit is still pending or whether the person resides in Finland at all, is also not available. According to Migri however, the request is often made when the person does not (yet) have a residence permit, in particular when the request is made during the asylum or residence permit procedure and when the request is made with regard to a newborn child for whom a residence permit has not yet been applied for or granted.113 The average processing times of the determination of citizenship status requests were 228 days in 2011, and 184 days in 2012.114 3.3.1 Competent authority According to Section 36 of the Nationality Act, Migri determines citizenship status at the request of a public authority or the party. Migri has the competence to decide on the acquisition, retention and loss of Finnish citizenship and on the determination of citizenship status according to Section 3 of the Nationality Act. The Nationality Unit of Migri deals with the determination of citizenship status. The Unit has a number of staff who are specialized and trained for handling requests for determination of citizenship status. Requests regarding acquisition of the parents’ nationality are decided and signed off by an officer when the child automatically acquires the nationality of one of the parents. More complicated cases, including those where the person is considered to be stateless, go through a process of preparation and recommendation by an officer and a superior officer must approve the recommendation and enforce the decision. The decision is signed by both of these officers.115 Decisions with regard to nationality, and in particular with regard to statelessness, are however not exclusively made in the determination of citizenship status procedure by the Nationality Unit of Migri. As explained above, such a determination can also be made by the Asylum Unit. Based on the review of the asylum cases 111 E-mail from Migri, 17 September 2012. 112 E-mail from Migri, 18 October 2012. These statistics from 2012 are from 1 January to 18 October 2012. 113 E-mail from the Finnish IS, 21 September 2012. 114 1 January – 20 September 2012. 115 E-mail from Migri, 17 September 2012. UNHCR STOCKHOLM, NOVEMBER 2014 31