STATELESSNESS DETERMINATION IN THE UK A UNHCR audit of the Home Office approach to decision-making in the Statelessness Determination Procedure 2020 1 Cover image: © UNHCR/Greg Constantine 2 CONTENTS Glossary of Terms ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Executive Summary ......................................................................................................................................................................................................6 1.Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................16 1.1 UNHCR’s work on statelessness ...........................................................................................................................................................................16 1.2 UNHCR Quality Protection Partnership (QPP) ..................................................................................................................................................17 2. Legal framework ......................................................................................................................................................................................................18 2.1 International law .........................................................................................................................................................................................................18 2.2 UK law and policy on statelessness ...................................................................................................................................................................18 3. Methodology ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 20 3.1 Scope of audit .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 20 3.2 Sampling of cases ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 20 4. Assessing and determining statelessness ..................................................................................................................................... 22 4.1 Burden of proof ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 22 4.1.1 Cases engaging the duty to assist ...................................................................................................................................................... 22 4.1.2 Provision of assistance due to applicant’s personal circumstances ........................................................................................24 4.1.3 The meaning of ‘reasonably available evidence’ .......................................................................................................................... 25 4.2 Standard of proof ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 26 4.2.1 Application of the standard of proof ................................................................................................................................................. 26 4.2.2 Lack of evidence and analysis of application of the standard of proof ................................................................................27 4.3 The credibility assessment ................................................................................................................................................................................... 29 4.3.1 Gathering the evidence ......................................................................................................................................................................... 29 4.3.2 Determining the material facts of the claim ....................................................................................................................................36 4.3.3 Assessing the credibility of each material fact ...............................................................................................................................37 4.3.4 Application of credibility indicators .....................................................................................................................................................41 4.3.5 A structured approach to decision-making .....................................................................................................................................42 5. Admissibility ...............................................................................................................................................................................................................44 5.1 Admissibility under UNHCR’s Handbook on protection of stateless persons ...................................................................................44 5.2 Home Office consideration of Palestinians as Stateless ...........................................................................................................................45 5.3 Home Office consideration of admissibility ...................................................................................................................................................46 6. General Grounds for Refusal .......................................................................................................................................................................49 6.1 Substantive consideration of statelessness .................................................................................................................................................. 50 6.2 Consideration of human rights grounds ......................................................................................................................................................... 52 7. Procedural considerations..............................................................................................................................................................................53 7.1 Interviews and written enquiries ........................................................................................................................................................................53 7.2 Speed of decisions on applications ................................................................................................................................................................ 56 7.3 Availability and impact of legal advice and representation .................................................................................................................... 58 7.4 Interpretation and translation services .............................................................................................................................................................61 7.5 Modern Slavery indicators .................................................................................................................................................................................. 62 7.6 Administrative Reviews .........................................................................................................................................................................................63 8. Immigration detention .......................................................................................................................................................................................67 9. Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 69 3 4 Image © UNHCR/Greg Constantine GLOSSARY OF TERMS AI ................................................................................................................................................................................ Asylum Instruction API ................................................................................................................................................................. Asylum Policy Instruction AR ........................................................................................................................................................................Administrative Review ‘2016 Home Office Policy’ ................Asylum Policy Instruction Statelessness and applications for leave to remain ‘2019 Home Office Policy’ ....................................................................... Home Office Stateless leave policy Version 3.0 AVR .............................................................................................................................................................Assisted Voluntary Return BGD