Jugements de la Cour administrative d'appel de Versailles du 25 novembre 2004, OFPRA c/ M. Khaled Abdelhafiz & de la Cour administrative d'appel de Marseille du 21 février 2005, OFPRA c/ M. Nasser X
Both cases concern application of article 1 § 2 i) of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons.
OFPRA rejected the requests for stateless person status because the applicants were respectively registered with UNRWA in Syria and Jordan. For the OFPRA, they are under UNRWA's mandate and are not eligible to the status of the 1954 Convention.
The first instance administrative tribunals reversed OFPRA's decisions. OFPRA appealed these decisions and the court of appeals of Versailles and Marseille found that both applicants were living in France with a legal residence permit and had therefore established their habitual residence outside of UNRWA's geographic jurisdiction. Consequently, They did not come under the purview of the exclusion clause of article 1 § 2 i) of the 1954 Convention.
