Name: Ali
Date of birth: 15 February 1975
Country of birth: Palestinian Territories
Nationality: unknown

Ali has been in the Netherlands illegally for around 19 years. He alternates between living on the street or at a shelter or detention centre. He has a suitcase full of documents, but not a single one to prove his origins. Is he an Iraqi Egyptian Algerian, as the Dutch immigration service supposes? Or a Palestinian, as he himself maintains? Ali has serious physical and psychiatric problems. Immigration officials and his doctors, counsellors and lawyer all agree: Ali needs help. But to qualify for Dutch protection services, you first have to prove who you are. And that is precisely what Ali cannot do.