It states that if the orphan or abandoned child is clearly a foreigner he or she must be registered as a foreigner. This bars the child from accessing South African citizenship indirectly. LHR client, Manny, is 17 and unregistered despite numerous attempts to have his birth registered since age 2 when he was found. Lack of legislation to protect vulnerable children: 31. There is a current gap in the law which allows particularly vulnerable children who are stateless or at risk of statelessness, to reach adulthood without having accessed South African nationality. The only route such children have to obtaining a legal status and documentation is through section 31(2)(b) of the Immigration Act, under which they rely upon the Minister’s discretion. This status is not widely applied and even when it is, only provides permanent residence and not citizenship. Those who obtain permanent residence may be able to apply for citizenship after 5 years, but remain stateless until then. This was is the situation of Caleb who was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). As a young child he fled DRC with his father who settled in South Africa and applied for asylum. Before obtaining refugee status in South Africa, his father passed away, leaving Caleb undocumented and unaccompanied. Caleb was placed in a child and youth care centre where he has been living ever since his father’s death. Caleb (is now 20 years old and) has no individual refugee claim. He was very young when he came to South Africa with his father. He does not remember the DRC at all. He cannot establish a claim to nationality in the DRC and cannot be returned there, because he has no known relatives there. The Children’s Court has placed him in the care of a South African foster home, but neither the SA Citizenship Act, nor the Immigration Act makes provision for a legal status for someone like him. He is stateless in South Africa. Late Registration of births for adults born in South Africa 32. In South Africa, not only is birth registration required to access nationality but it also facilitates the issuing of a birth certificate and a South African Identity card. These two documents serve as proof of South African citizenship. As mentioned above, the Births and Deaths Registration Act (BDRA) makes provision for the late registration of birth in order to accommodate adults (and children) with a claim to South African citizenship whose births were not registered within 30 days of the birth. 33. The regulations to the BDRA are overly strict and cumbersome and do not take into account the large amount of South Africans (or foreigners born on the territory) who may not be able to comply with the requirements. As a certain level of documentary evidence is requested, applicants who fail to submit all documents required are rejected with no alternatives offered. The documents requested normally include the identity document of their parents which is impossible to provide if the parents were undocumented or deceased, which is often the case with elderly persons born in apartheid era. 34. LHR client, Elizabeth has attempted for the last ten years to register her birth, but has been refused because she cannot produce a birth certificate from the neighbouring country, Lesotho, where she was born to South African parents. Lesotho has a very low birth registration rate and Elizabeth cannot travel there to obtain one without a passport. Elizabeth is also required to bring her South African father (now deceased) to sign for paternity in person despite the many family members who attest to her identity. The lack of flexibility and discretion in these regulations render many people like Elizabeth stateless.