Statelessness in Czechia | January 2024
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Birth registration procedures
International protection procedures
Dublin Regulation procedures
Refugee or statelessness family reunification procedures
Passport application procedures
Stateless persons travel document application procedures
Immigration detention procedures
Removal procedures
Refugee resettlement procedures
Other immigration or human rights procedures
Identification process of unaccompanied and separated children conducted by
Child Protection Services
Criminal proceedings
Welfare benefits (including asylum accommodation and support) eligibility
procedures
Social care and family court procedures
School and university admission procedures
Public health access procedures
Appeal and judicial review procedures relating to any of the above
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There are many indicators that may identify that a person is or may be stateless,
including, for example:
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Have never had a valid passport or an identity card
Have never had birth certificate or official documents from their country of birth
Not able to be registered as a citizen in their home country
From a stateless population or a country with a large stateless population (e.g.,
Rohingya, Bidoon, Palestinian, Kurd, Roma, Syria, Myanmar, Thailand, etc)
Born in a country which no longer exists, is not universally recognised by other
governments, and/or is occupied by another state
Cannot obtain identity documents for themselves or their children
Country of birth or former habitual residence refuses to renew travel or identity
documents or allow return
Difficulties reuniting with family members because they cannot obtain identity
or travel documents
Could not go to school, work, access healthcare, get married or register their
child’s birth or nationality
Detained for removal but not accepted for return to a country of birth or former
residence
This list is not exhaustive. At the identification stage, what is most important is to at least
record any initial indications of statelessness. An individual should then be referred to the
relevant competent authority to undertake statelessness determination or another
relevant procedure, and/or to a competent legal adviser if they do not have one. Whilst
some stateless people may not be aware that they are stateless, others will have known
for a long time but may have never been formally recognised as stateless. Many stateless
people may find it difficult to talk about their lack of nationality and other circumstances,
especially if they have never had documentation and/or have had experiences of being
disbelieved by authorities. The aim of the below questions should not be to give an
individual the impression that the interviewer is trying to determine whether they are telling
the truth about their statelessness or lack of documentation, but rather to assist in
identifying whether the person is stateless and where the proof of their statelessness may