This Inform, published under the responsibility of EMN Luxembourg (which coordinates the EMN Platform on Statelessness) provides an overview of the countries’ policies and measures in this matter. It enables a better understanding of (i) the determination of statelessness, (ii) implications for affected individuals, particularly with regard to work, education, healthcare, and social aid and (iii) national best practices and challenges.

Among other findings, the Inform highlights that:

• 24 EU Member States plus Norway and Georgia are party to the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (1954 Convention) and 20 EU Member States are party to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (1961 Convention).
   
• There is no harmonisation among EU Member States on the procedures they use to determine statelessness.
   
• The majority of EU Member States make no direct link between the determination of statelessness and the issuing of a specific residence permit.
   
• Access to the labour market, education and training, healthcare and social aid does not depend on the determination of statelessness but on the residence permit the stateless person can obtain. This can place stateless persons unable to obtain a residence permit in a legal vacuum in certain EU Member States.
   
• Most EU Member States facilitate access to nationality for children born stateless in their territory to some degree.
   
• There is no dedicated determination procedure for stateless unaccompanied minors that could take account of their specific vulnerability.
   
• With the exception of several EU Member States, no provision is made for children born enroute to the EU to obtain a birth certificate or an equivalent document in the country of arrival.

For more detailed information, please read the Inform above. It will be presented during the technical meeting jointly organised by EMN Platform on Statelessness and the Council of Europe on 22 June 2023, taking place both in person (Belval campus of the University of Luxembourg) and online (Webex).