Stateless by any other name: refused asylum-seekers in the United Kingdom

This article maintains that there are certain aspects of the UK asylum system which may lead to statelessness-like situations. In order to understand how this can happen, we reconsider Hannah Arendt's concept of statelessness, which entails three losses of home (exile), state protection (basic rights) and having a place in the world (political rights). Through interviews with refused and long-term asylum-seekers in Oxford and London, and one focus group, we examine the impact of negative asylum-application decisions on applicants’ access to rights. The main finding of this research is that, when denied state protection, refused asylum-seekers endure an existence not unlike stateless people. This study calls into question the application of key principles of human rights as they relate to refused asylum-seekers, especially the tenets of dignity and non-discrimination, and the right to family life.