Legal briefing on the rights of stateless Palestinians in the UK • • • • September 2025 status from stateless Palestinians must be assessed in relation to a country of habitual residence. If the applicant has resided in more than one country, a well-founded fear of persecution in any one of those countries should suffice to grant refugee status (Section 2.2). Where a Palestinian individual is unsuccessful in their asylum claim, this will not exclude them from applying under another procedure. Stateless Palestinians may also be eligible for leave to remain as a stateless person, in accordance with the 1954 Convention and the UK Immigration Rules Appendix on Statelessness. Since there is no referral mechanism from the asylum procedure to the possibility to apply for leave to remain as a stateless person, many Palestinians who are in fact stateless but were denied refugee status may remain unaware of their rights as stateless persons in the UK (Section 3). Stateless Palestinians and Palestinian refugees have rights under Article 8 ECHR, including the right to family reunification. Family members of Palestinians, particularly those in Gaza, face significant challenges in joining family members in the UK, although legal challenges have successfully addressed some of these (Section 4.1). Palestinians may face risks of serious harm upon return to UNRWA’s areas of operation, engaging Articles 3 and 8 ECHR. UNRWA’s inability to provide protection or assistance must be considered in assessing risk on return (Section 4.2). Resources and country-of-origin information with specific information on statelessness should be regularly published and consulted in decisions affecting Palestinians. An overview of relevant publications is included in Annex I. 37