Court name: Gent Court of Appeal
State: Belgium
Date of decision:
Legal instruments: 1954 Statelessness Convention
Key aspects: Burden of proof, Deprivation of nationality, Determination/confirmation of nationality, Standard of proof, Statelessness determination
The applicant arrived in Belgium in 2000 from Kazakhstan. He claimed to have lost his Kazakh nationality on the basis of a Kazakh law providing for such loss in case of permanent residence abroad for over 3 years without registration at the consulate. The Court studied the relevant Kazakh legislation as well as the implementing Presidential Decree, and found that such loss is not automatic, but requires a decision of a competent authority instead, and therefore the applicant's statelessness was not sufficiently substantiated.
Court name: UK Supreme Court
State: United Kingdom
Date of decision:
Legal instruments: 1954 Statelessness Convention, 1961 Statelessness Convention
Key aspects: Deprivation of nationality, Determination/confirmation of nationality, Statelessness determination
An appeal as to whether the Secretary of State was precluded under the British Nationality Act 1981 from making an order depriving the appellant of British citizenship because to do so would render him stateless.