Cross-Border Portability of Refugees' Personal Status

European countries will sooner or later inevitably be confronted-again-with important legal issues that transcend the current short-term crisis management (reception of refugees, 'bed-bath-bread' and other logistical issues). This article will take a closer look at one of the long-term legal concerns, namely the cross-border portability of refugees' personal status (age, parental status, marital status, etc.). It will discuss legal problems encountered by asylum seekers/refugees with regard to their personal status acquired in one country and transferred to another country (such as the absence of documentary evidence, the issue of limping legal relationships). At present, insufficient research data exists on the interaction between international refugee law (relating to the rights and obligations of states regarding the protection of refugees) and private international law (dealing with private relationships in a cross-border context). These interactions are not new, but the current refugee flows into Europe prove in a striking way how ineffective the interplay between the two sets of rules is. The article will discuss the private international law concept of personal status in international refugee law and the international refugee protection in private international law instruments.