Essential new guide for immigration practitioners on applications for leave to remain as a stateless person
The Immigration Law Practitioners' Association (ILPA) and the Liverpool Law Clinic have published a comprehensive new best practice guide on statelessness and applications for leave to remain.
The 100-page guide, authored by Judith Carter and Sarah Woodhouse, can be read here.
The guide will be essential reading for immigration practitioners and sets out the current view of the authors about best practice in advising and representing clients considering or making an application for statelessness leave in the UK.
It states: "This guide is aimed at those who may represent clients considering whether and when to make an application for leave to remain as a stateless person. It is designed to help you to identify potentially stateless persons from your caseload, to advise them about making an application, to prepare a well-evidenced application supported by legal argument and to challenge any refusal. For many clients a statelessness application is one of last resort; there is no fee to pay and they have little to lose. Advisers will want to ensure such an application is as robust as possible."
The guide is dived into three parts: Part A is an introduction to statelessness generally; Part B contains information about the international and domestic law on statelessness; and Part C covers the procedure and practice relating to applications for statelessness leave under Part 14 of the Immigration Rules.
The UNHCR's representative to the UK, Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, said: "Statelessness and Applications for Leave to Remain: A Best Practice Guide seeks to build on the positive momentum of the UK's move to introduce a statelessness procedure. It gives an overview of the statelessness law framework and provides practical and expert advice for legal representatives navigating what is a complex and developing area of UK law. In doing so, the Best Practice Guide serves as an excellent legal resource for practitioners; it will hopefully contribute to strengthening the quality of legal representation being made on behalf of stateless people in the UK and, ultimately, improving their access to the rights that many of us take for granted."