Inclusion and exclusion criteria The following were the criteria that we used for inclusion and exclusion of study participants: • Above the age of 18, with the capacity to provide voluntary, informed consent. • Fits with one of the categories below: • Member of one of the eight stateless populations, and/ or • Civil society organisation (CSO) worker working with one of the eight stateless populations, and/ or • Representative from a government agency working with one of the eight stateless populations. • Not a member of the eight stateless populations but speaking as a proxy on behalf of one of the categories. For example, a parent/ guardian/ CSO worker speaking on behalf of persons below 18 years old from any of the eight categories of stateless populations. Ethics protocol Local ethics approval Ethics approval was obtained from the local Ethics Consultative Service for Marginalised Populations, housed under the Research Integrity Unit at the University of Malaya on 1 September 2021, prior to when the interviews began. Information on this service can be found at: https:// medicine.um.edu.my/news/ethics-consultative-services-for-marginalisedpopulation-ecs-mp Ensuring the autonomy and agency of participants through informed consent There were two separate informed consent forms – one for interviews, and one specifically to obtain consent from participants to agree to share their personal documents related to their circumstances of statelessness. This specific consent form was for participants whom we did not interview directly but whose consent we wished to obtain for their documents to be shared through a third party (CSO or government stakeholder). Participants who were to be interviewed only needed to sign the one interview consent form, as it includes a section on sharing of documentation. 17