France - Versailles Administrative Court, no. 13VE00323

Applicants, both originally from Kazakhstan, appealed the rejection of their statelessness status. They had a document from the Kazakhstan embassy indicating they were no longer nationals, but OFPRA considered they needed to attempt to re-acquire the Kazakh nationality before benefiting from the statelessness status in France, and that the applicants' previous unsuccessful attempts to seek asylum are not an obstacle in attempting to reacquire their former nationality. The Court sided with OFPRA and confirmed the rejection of the statelessness status. 

Case name (in original language)
N° 13VE00323
Case status
Decided
Case number
N° 13VE00323
Date of decision
State
Court / UN Treaty Body
Versailles Administrative Court
Language(s) the decision is available in
French
Applicant's country of birth
Kazakhstan
Applicant's country of residence
France
Facts

The applicants, originally from Kazakhstan, entered France in 2005 and applied for asylum, but their application was rejected in 2006. They subsequently applied for the recognition of statelessness status in 2009, which was rejected in 2010. The applicants challenged the legality of the decision rejecting their statelessness status.

Decision & Reasoning

The Court reasoned that "assuming [the document from Kazakh embassy stating the applicants are no longer nationals] can be regarded as establishing that the applicants had been deprived of Kazakh nationality, Article 41 of the Law on Kazakh nationality allows an appeal against decisions about the loss of Kazakh nationality, and Article 18 of the same law allows former nationals to reacquire their nationality. The applicants do not explain why they have not lodged an appeal against a possible decision to forfeit Kazakh nationality or why they have not requested to reacquire that nationality. The fact that they applied for refugee status following their entry into France in 2005 does not prevent them from initiating procedures with their embassy to reacquire Kazakh nationality, because they were not granted refugee status. The applicants claim that they should enjoy the benefits of a statelessness status is unfounded". 

Outcome

The application was dismissed, and the OFPRA decision to reject the statelessness status stands.