Court name: Constitutional Court of Austria (Verfassungsgerichtshof)
State: Austria
Date of decision:
Key aspects: Burden of proof, Country of return, Deprivation of nationality, Determination/confirmation of nationality, Protection, Residence permit, Standard of proof, Stateless status and documentation, Statelessness and asylum, Statelessness determination
Applicant is a refugee from Vietnam, whose refugee status was withdrawn after a number of criminal convictions, combined with the fact that he made a safe trip to Vietnam. He applied for a travel document for foreigners claiming that he is stateless or at least that his nationality status is unclear. The authorities maintained that he was still a Vietnamese national, but the Court sided with the applicant, insisting that the authorities should have taken more factors into account in considering the applicant's potential statelessness.