lead to a dedicated protection status, including a residence permit, access to economic, social, civil, and political rights, the right to administrative assistance, exemption from requirements stateless people cannot meet because they are stateless, and other rights protected by the 1954 Convention. States should also establish a facilitated route to naturalisation so stateless people can acquire a nationality and resolve their statelessness.20 Identification of stateless people and statelessness determination 15. Germany lacks a dedicated procedure to identify and determine statelessness to facilitate timely access to protection. Statelessness remains an incidental issue addressed through other administrative and related judicial procedures, including requesting travel documents, applications or extensions of residence permits (such as family reunification or study), or if born stateless in Germany. However, statelessness may also be determined as part of an application for international protection under the responsibility of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (‘Bundesamtes für Migration und Flüchtlinge’, BAMF) or, if international protection is refused, under the responsibility of the local foreign office (‘Ausländerbehörde’). The local foreign office may issue a ‘tolerated stay’, a form of lawful stay with exceptional leave to remain in Germany as long as the individual cannot be removed, but the obligation to leave still exists. None of these procedures have the objective of determining statelessness. 16. Due to the shortcomings in the procedures available to determine statelessness (see below) and a tendency not to recognise statelessness, applicants are often assumed to have a nationality which they are unable or unwilling to confirm.21 People whose statelessness has not been officially determined are often categorised as having ‘unclear’ nationality, which prevents them from accessing the protection they are entitled to under the 1954 Convention.22 17. Stateless people face challenges in accessing procedures to regularise their status. Indeed, there is no obligation for the authorities in German law to consider a claim of statelessness.23 While instructions are provided on how to apply for a travel document under the 1954 Convention at the local level, there is no accessible nor ‘easy-read’ public information on the specific steps stateless people should take to regularise their status through other procedures. The available information relates mostly to asylum procedures.24 Lack of access to information also includes the type of documents accepted by government bodies to establish people’s identity and statelessness. Both the lack of awareness of relevant procedures and accessible, ‘easy-read’ information 20 Statelessness Index, Statelessness Determination and Protection in Europe: Good Practice, Challenges, and Risks, 2021: https://index.statelessness.eu/sites/default/files/ENS-Statelessness_determination_and_protection_in_EuropeSep_2021_0.pdf. 21 See e.g. VG Gelsenkirchen, Urteil vom 23.09.2019 - 17 K 950/18 [Administrative Court of Gelsenkirchen, judgment of 23 September 2019 - 17 K 950/18]; OVG Nordrhein-Westfalen, Beschluss vom 21.10.2021 – 17 A 4237/19 [Higher Administrative Court for the Land North Rhine-Westphalia, decision of 21 October 2021 – 17 A 4237/19]. 22 See, e.g., Statefree, My plight while moving with hope and the mindset of a winner, News and Updates, 27 September 2022, available at: https://community.statefree.world/news-updates-2/my-plight-while-moving-with-hope-and-the-mindset-of-awinnet-192; Rebecca Sawicki, "Abnormität, die nicht ins System passt": Wie eine Organisation für Staatenlose kämpft, 21 December 2022, available at: https://politik.watson.de/deutschland/interview/702626744-einbuergerung-wie-eineorganisation-fuer-staatenlose-kaempft. 23 See, e.g., Statefree, Citizens' Office does not want to recognize my statelessness, Statefree Community Forum, 24 December 2021, available at: https://community.statefree.world/stories-experiences-7/citizens-office-does-not-want-to-recognize-mystatelessness-132. 24 Christiana Bukalo, Knowledge to Empower: Closing the Gap between Stateless People and Statelessness Research, December 2020, available at: https://law.unimelb.edu.au/centres/statelessness/resources/critical-statelessness-studies-blog/knowledgeto-empower-closing-the-gap-between-stateless-people-and-statelessness-research. 4