make it difficult for anyone to navigate the system. Due to Germany’s federal system, the determination of statelessness lies at the discretion of the local foreign office in charge of the applicant’s residential area (thus, the examination is not undertaken by a centralised authority). 18. In practice, on several occasions, statelessness appears to be identified in Administrative Court proceedings. This raises concerns as it means that only a few cases can proceed to the courts (depending on the resources and access to legal aid of the applicant), that the time to obtain a decision on the person’s statelessness status becomes considerably longer, and that accessibility may be hampered as access to the courts is in general more complicated than access to administrative procedures. 19. In administrative procedures, the burden of proof is on the applicant, who must cooperate (‘Mitwirkungspflicht’) and take all reasonable steps to secure any available documentation to prove their identity and clarify their situation. Failure to do so can result in penalties, such as reductions in social security entitlements. However, according to case law, it is accepted that where facts are difficult to establish or evidence difficult to obtain, the burden of proof is shared between the applicant and the government, although this practice seems to be little applied and is mainly encouraged by the courts. Positively, the country’s Coalition Agreement pledged to introduce a new method of clarifying a person’s identity through sworn affidavit.25 In theory, only the standard of proof of beyond reasonable doubt is in place in Germany, but in practice, and positively, judges seem to apply a less rigid approach in statelessness and asylum cases. Although some guidance has been provided through the jurisprudence of the Federal Administrative Court on what constitutes proof of statelessness or nationality status, there is no clear, binding guidance on how to determine statelessness. In each federal state, the local foreign offices follow the Land’s guidelines based on General Administrative Regulations for the Nationality Act, which mentions stateless people (on acquisition of nationality, prevention of statelessness, vulnerable groups and loss of German nationality). The General Administrative Regulations for the Residence Act26 provide some instructions on the procedures for collecting evidence and the obligation to participate in the procurement of documents, although they are not sufficiently explicit and specific. Overall, there is also little awareness and understanding of statelessness within Germany’s international protection procedures. 20. In terms of procedural safeguards, stateless people are treated as any other foreigner under the Residence Act and therefore can obtain legal aid if they can demonstrate financial need. In court proceedings, they must also demonstrate sufficient prospects of success, which can present a barrier in practice. To access legal aid, a person must be registered in the local registry, which constitutes a practical obstacle for those with irregular status or 'tolerated stay' (although they are not excluded from access by law). The evidence required may not be easily accessible (for example, proof of income or address, or a tenancy agreement) or they may be afraid to provide it due to their insecure residence status or the fact that the courts responsible for granting an application for legal aid can inform the immigration authorities of the presence of 25 Coalition Agreement between the SPD, Greens, and FDP, 2021-2025, 7 December 2021, available at: https://www.spd.de/fileadmin/Dokumente/Koalitionsvertrag/Koalitionsvertrag_2021-2025.pdf. 26 Residence Act (Aufenthaltsgesetz (AufenthG)), 25 February 2008 (BGBl 2008 I, 162), zuletzt durch Artikel 10 des Gesetzes vom 9. Dezember 2020 (BGBl 2020 I, 2855) [Residence Act], § 60b Abs. 5 S. 2: https://www.gesetze-iminternet.de/aufenthg_2004/BJNR195010004.html. 5