13 | PROTECTING STATELESS PERSONS FROM ARBITRARY DETENTION IN MALTA statelessness or the risk of being stateless, and on that basis grant international protection.45 As there is no formal recognition of statelessness, a stateless person or someone at risk of statelessness has no entitlements linked to his/her particular situation. The individual will remain a third-country national46 (although this wording sounds rather incongruous for a stateless person), either with a residence permit linked to protection under the Refugees Act, or with leave to remain from the Immigration Police in the case of failed asylum-seekers, or with no documentation if no contact is made with the authorities (e.g. persons overstaying their visas yet remaining undetected). The leave to remain does not equal a residence permit but acknowledges the individual’s tolerated stay on the territory pending removal. In the case of persons to be removed, the Immigration Police systematically sends a request for documentation to the countries of origin of migrants, although in practice very few of these are actually concluded by an effective removal.47 Non-Maltese nationals have the opportunity to apply for citizenship through naturalisation. Detailed provisions on citizenship were originally found in Chapter III of the Constitution of Malta,48 eventually transferred to the Maltese Citizenship Act,49 which thereby became the main law regulating citizenship, while the Constitution now only contains the general principles on citizenship. In fact, there are no legislative provisions relating to statelessness apart from those found in the Citizenship Act of 1965, providing for children born stateless in Malta.50 According to these provisions, a child born out of wedlock to a Maltese father and registered with ‘unknown father’ shall not be a citizen of Malta. It is significant to note that children born in Malta of foreign parents are automatically recorded in Malta as having the nationality of their parents. However no individual assessment is conducted as to whether or not the parents – one or both – can actually transmit their nationality to the child. For example, Somali mothers are unable to transmit nationality to their children according to Somali Nationality Law.51 Therefore if the father is registered as ‘unknown’, for whatever reason, the nationality supposedly acquired from the mother would not materialise, rendering the child stateless. According to the Maltese Citizenship Act, “"stateless" means destitute of any nationality and "stateless person" shall be construed accordingly”. 52 Substantial reforms to the Maltese Citizenship Act modified the process related to acquisition of citizenship but not that related to naturalisation. A stateless person may apply for citizenship through naturalisation if he proves: “that he has resided in Malta throughout the period of twelve months immediately preceding the date of application; and that, during the six years immediately preceding the said period of twelve months, he has resided in Malta for periods amounting in the aggregate to not less than four years; and that he has an adequate knowledge of the Maltese or the English language; and that he is of good character; and that he would be a suitable citizen of Malta.”53 The final decision on such a request remains at the entire discretion of the Ministry, with no duty to give reasons and no appeals/remedies in cases of negative decisions. The Act also provides for the possibility to acquire Maltese citizenship by registration on the basis of marriage with a Maltese national, after five years of married life.54 Although in an isolated case, an Egyptian national had renounced his Egyptian nationality and had married a Maltese national, and later applied for Maltese citizenship, which was granted. As he was condemned by the national Courts in a smuggling case, his citizenship was revoked as a consequence.55 Interestingly, in 2014 Malta introduced subsidiary legislation to the Citizenship Act offering the possibility to purchase Maltese citizenship for 650,000 Euros for the main applicants, together with a series of other prerequisites such as the purchase of a real estate worth a minimum of 350,000 Euros, health insurance coverage, and investment obligations in a National Development and Social fund.56 This scheme attracted criticism from Aditus foundation insofar as it highlighted the “unworthiness of migrants and refugees who, for years, have been contributing to Maltese society in several ways by paying taxes and social security contributions, being employed in Maltese companies, establishing their own business ventures, engaging in social activities with Maltese people and generally doing their utmost to integrate into what is, ultimately, an extremely challenging environment for them to integrate in.” Aditus foundation stressed that this scheme perfectly captured Malta’s treatment of migrants, particularly in relation to the possibility of them acquiring Maltese citizenship.57 2.3 DATA ON STATELESSNESS AND DETENTION There is limited data on statelessness as no identification or determination procedure is in place. Available data is, at most, quite confusing in its use of terminology. According to the ‘Demographic Review 2013’, published by the National Statistic Office, one stateless person acquired Maltese citizenship through naturalisation or registration,58 although the document’s section providing