THEMATIC BRIEFING | SEPTEMBER 2021 Statelessness determination and protection in Europe 13 BARRIER Barriers to accessing the SDP in the UK In the United Kingdom, applications must be made in English in writing, via a complicated online form, and cannot be made orally to a public official. The only guidance on how the application will be considered is in the form of instructions to the decision-maker, not to the applicant, and these are only available in English. The form itself is unclear and repetitive in parts. There are significant barriers to legal representation, making the application process very challenging for many. The competent authority is obliged to consider all applications, but there is no general obligation to initiate the procedure ex officio. State authorities may refer people to the SDP, but rarely do so and there is no evidence of routine referrals to the SDP from immigration detention, for example. A lack of coordination and cooperation between government agencies coming into contact with stateless people has been reported.45 3.2.2. Assessment of applications The assessment of SDP applications must be fair and non-discriminatory. This means ensuring fair evidentiary requirements, implementing measures to prevent discrimination against disadvantaged groups, and providing clear guidance to support high-quality decision-making. As statelessness determination requires a mixed assessment of fact and law, all available evidence should be considered, including about the applicant’s personal history, the nationality laws of relevant countries, and their implementation in practice.46 Evidence can be both oral or written and could include testimonies from the applicant or members of the community, responses from foreign authorities about the nationality status of the applicant, country of origin information, information provided by UNHCR, identity and travel documents (even if expired), documents relating to nationality applications, school and medical certificates, or identity documents from family members.47 Enquiries should be limited to States with which the applicant has a relevant link, especially through birth on the territory, descent, marriage, adoption, or habitual residence.48 States must take into account the primacy of any asylum claim and should never contact the authorities of a State where an applicant alleges a well-founded fear of persecution, until any asylum claim is fully resolved.49 The assessment must take into consideration that determining statelessness requires proving a negative – that the applicant is not considered a national by any State under the operation of its law. It is generally much easier for State authorities to establish a positive - that a person is a national – than it is for a stateless person to prove a negative - that they are not a national. This power imbalance should be considered when assessing the available evidence. Due to the nature of their status, stateless people already face significant challenges to acquire documentary evidence, which are often exacerbated by their circumstances, such as lack of financial means, lack of legal representation and/or support, personal histories of persecution and/or exclusion, and language barriers.