Stateless in the UK – What does it mean

In 2014, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) launched its campaign to end statelessness by 2024. According to UNHCR, there are an estimated 10 million stateless people who have been denied a nationality and access to basic rights such as education, healthcare, employment and freedom of movement.

To put it loosely into perspective, the UK government recently rendered ISIS bride Shamima Begum stateless by stripping her of her nationality. Whether or not that was a judicious decision is a debate for another post, but it brought forth to light that there are many other people who are rendered stateless for various reasons.

What is Statelessness?

According to the 1954 Statelessness Convention, a person is considered ‘stateless’ if he or she is ‘not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law’. To put this simply, it means that as a stateless person, you do not have access to the nationality of any country in the world. While some are born stateless, others become stateless.

Who can be called stateless?

At the very basic level, any who does not often have official documents and has trouble travelling across borders. But a stateless person suffers more than just lack of ease of travel. He/she has difficult accessing basic rights and services that would be available to any one of us possessing the right documents thus making their lives difficult and challenging.

Why does someone become Statelessness?

According to the UNCHR, the reasons for Statelessness are many including discrimination on the basis of gender, religion, ethnicity, emergence of new states and transfers of territories between existing states and in some cases gaps in nationality laws.

How does immigration law help?

A good immigration lawyer will have a thorough knowledge of the legal framework involved in representing a stateless person under the Immigration Rules, Part 14 here in the UK. They can also offer assistance with many other matters affecting stateless persons such as housing or other support.

Do you know a stateless person, or do you want help with your own case? Please reach out to us at 020 3713 7052 and we will do our best to help you because we believe that everyone has a right to belong.