the procedure for granting 18-21 year old stateless persons born in Denmark citizenship may be discretionary in a way, which would not comply with Article 1 of the 1961 Convention. In this regard, it may be taken into account that before a bill on naturalization is introduced, the Ministry of Immigration and Integration sends the Naturalization Committee an overview of persons qualifying for naturalization on the basis of the 1961 Convention to the Parliament.271 4.2.1.1.3 Transitional rule for certain stateless persons born in Denmark who are 21 years or older In the wake of the so-called ‘statelessness case’, mentioned above, a transitional rule was adopted, allowing persons born stateless in Denmark to apply for naturalization although they had attained the age of 21 years or more and thus exceeded the maximum age for applying for nationality without satisfying the usual conditions. At first, they had to apply before 1 March 2012, but as of 29 February 2012, the right to apply was extended indeterminately with the following limitation: Persons born stateless in Denmark, that previously and before reaching the age of 21 have applied for nationality, and who may have received an incorrect processing or who may have received incorrect information regarding their rights under the UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness or the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child can be listed in a naturalization bill without satisfying the usual conditions for being eligible for Danish nationality. It is a condition to be listed in a naturalization bill with reference to the conventions that the person concerned at the time of the incorrect processing or the incorrect information satisfied the conditions that can be required according to the conventions. When these conditions are satisfied, the person concerned will be listed in a naturalization bill. This applies regardless of whether the application has first been submitted after 1 March 2012.272 The wording of the announcement may be subject to interpretation, but it appears from a letter of 29 February 2012 from the Ministry of Justice to the Parliament’s Naturalization Committee that two groups of stateless persons having turned 21 as a rule are entitled to Danish nationality based on the CRC and the 1961 Convention and therefore, upon application, will be included in a Naturalization Bill. The two groups consist of those who have applied for Danish nationality before they turned 21 years, and those who have been wrongfully advised about their rights to acquire a nationality under the Conventions. In addition, the Ministry of Justice refers to an earlier practice introduced by the Ministry of Integration in March 2011, regarding a third group of stateless persons who would be included in a Naturalization Bill under the rules of the CRC and the 1961 Convention, even if they applied for Danish nationality after they had turned 21 years and had not been wrongfully advised about their rights to acquire a nationality under the Conventions. However persons in this third group had to apply for Danish Nationality before 1 March 2012. According to the Ministry, Denmark is not obliged to grant nationality to persons who have not received incorrect guidance before they turned 21 years. This interpretation of Denmark’s international obligations warrants consideration since, for a number of years, the 1961 Convention was not incorporated and the CRC was not fully incorporated in Danish law. During these years, stateless persons born in Denmark were not (fully) informed about their entitlement to Danish nationality and this omission may in itself have been misleading.273 This was recognized by the former Minister for Integration when she introduced the first transitional rule that had a broader personal scope. 66 271 Section 32(1) of the Naturalization Circular 272 See the Danish text, available at the website of the Ministry of Immigration and Integration, ‘Stateless persons born in Denmark’. Available at: http://uim.dk/arbejdsomrader/statsborgerskab/statslose-fodt-i-danmark-1. 273 See Eva Ersbøll: Dansk indfødsret i international og historisk belysning (2007), p. 749. Mapping Statelessness in Denmark