Identifying the Stateless in Statelessness Determination Procedures and Immigration Detention in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Stateless persons, not recognized as citizens of any State, have restricted access to identification and travel documents. As they often also do not enjoy the right to enter, leave, or remain in any country, stateless persons can be at great risk of prolonged and arbitrary immigration detention. It is therefore crucial to identify stateless persons in or facing detention. Adopting an access to justice lens, this article explores aspects and legal challenges of the statelessness determination-immigration detention nexus in the United Kingdom. Despite the adoption of a national statelessness determination procedure, stateless persons still experience a plethora of problems. This is especially so for applicants who are in immigration detention. Statelessness is generally not acknowledged due to gaps in the legal framework and a number of interrelated objective, subjective, and physical barriers that prevent tackling the problem of statelessness and concomitant restriction-of-liberty problems. This situation sits uneasily with access to justice principles, which require the guarantee of an effective remedy and a fair solution to the legal problems of every individual. As such, the article ultimately shows that lack of access requires a holistic approach, whereby the special problems and needs of the users must always be taken into consideration.