Passport refused by home country

Question

Recently Pakistan issued a notification mentioning that no asylum seeker will be issued a passport neither will be renewed because of security and sovereignty reasons. In this scenario, would the persons be considered stateless? Also, for rejected asylum seekers, when they go to apply for 25b etc how would the requirement of identity clarification will be done if state isn't issuing passport?

Comments

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Answer 1

Hi @Zeshanbajwa

No, in this scenario the person would not be considered stateless. The complication in that case is with passports being issued, not with the person’s nationality. As regards identity clarification, if a state is not issuing passports, then the person will first have to show proof of this. In such a case, the authorities can accept alternative means of identity clarification. The best alternative is another document with a photo, e.g. expired passport or driver’s licence. If that is not possible, then other alternatives such as a birth or marriage certificate may be accepted.

It is important to thoroughly document all steps made to clarify the identity. The requirement for identity clarification is not that a person is successfully obtains a passport. The requirement is that they do all that is reasonably possible to try to do so. The authorities also have obligations to inform a person what steps can be taken in the process.

Here is a guide in English with more detail:

https://***.fluechtlingsrat-thr.de/sites/fluechtlingsrat/files/pdf/Beratungshilfe/2020%2008%20Mitwirkungspflichten%20Gestattung_englisch.pdf

Best,

Éanna