refers to stateless persons as one of the groups which may have limited possibilities of obtaining documents to prove their identity.121 In March 2016, the SMA adopted a Judicial Position on the examination and determination of identity and citizenship, as well as country of habitual residence or regular place of residence in asylum cases.122 This Judicial Position provides guidance on the various forms of evidence and methodologies that can be used to establish an applicant’s identity and citizenship, or in the case of stateless applicants, their regular place of residence. Furthermore, in June 2016, the SMA adopted a Judicial Position on the notion of regular place of residence (vanlig vistelseort),123 which provides guidance to case workers and decision makers on how to determine against which country, or countries, a determination of a stateless asylum applicant’s claim should be made. This Judicial Position reaffirms that “The one who claims to be stateless must make this probable.” Establishing identity, including citizenship status, of a child born in Sweden for the purpose of registration in the Population Register As mentioned in Section 3.3.2.1 above, when a child is born in Sweden to an alien with a residence permit in Sweden, the Swedish Tax Agency is the first authority to conduct a determination of the child’s nationality in the context of the child’s registration in the Population Register. When determining the child’s nationality, the Swedish Tax Agency primarily uses the SMA’s assessment of the parents’ nationality(ies), undertaken in the context of their asylum or other residence permit applications; information regarding the parents’ nationality, or lack thereof, is stated on their respective residence permits. The Swedish Tax Agency may also rely on other available personal and identity documents. The Swedish Tax Agency relies on its own information regarding the nationality legislation of different countries,124 and information obtained from the parents of the child, when assessing whether the child can acquire the nationality of one of his or her parents. In cases where the nationality law does not provide for acquisition of nationality automatically at birth through the parents, or where nationality is not acquired through a simple formality such as a formal registration at an authority of the country of nationality, further evidence is required on the acquisition of the parents’ or one of the parent’s nationalities; otherwise the child is registered as being stateless or with “unknown” nationality (depending on the country in question).125 When the nationality law does not provide for the acquisition of nationality by the child through the mother and the parents are not married but the father is registered in the Population Register, further information regarding paternity and acquisition of nationality through the father is required, otherwise the child is registered as stateless or with “unknown” nationality. In these cases, the burden of proof rests on the parents who need to prove that the child has a nationality, or that they have taken the appropriate steps to ensure the child has acquired one. The Swedish Tax Agency bases their overall assessments of a child’s ability to acquire nationality from one of his or her parents on their administrative practice. 38 121 Ibid. The text reads, in Swedish: ”Många av de personer som kommer till Sverige utan godtagbara identitetshandlingar är flyktingar och personer som kommer från länder, vilka saknar en fungerande statlig administration. Problem avseende kravet på styrkt identitet förekommer emellertid om än i mer begränsad omfattning även beträffande vissa andra grupper än de nu nämnda. Det kan t.ex. röra sig om statslösa personer eller personer som kommer från något land vars identitetshandlingar är av så enkel beskaffenhet att de i princip inte godtas av svenska myndigheter.” 122 Rättsligt ställningstagande angående utredning och prövning av identitet och medborgarskap samt hemvist och vanlig vistelseort i asylärenden, RCI 07/2016, 24 March 2016, available at: http://goo.gl/rxqR8f. 123 SMA Rättsligt ställningstagande angående begreppet vanlig vistelseort, RCI 14/2016, 8 June 2016, available at: http://goo.gl/DSEysV. 124 The Legal Department (Rättsavdelningen) of the Swedish Tax Agency has issued a country information document, Länderinformation, which is regularly updated and which contains information on names and nationality and some general information about different countries. 125 Information from the Swedish Tax Agency, 30 June 2015. M A P P I N G S TAT E L E S S N E S S I N S W E D E N