of Ukraine. Once she received this document, however, she was not able to return home to her family because of Russia’s annexation of Crimea. A border had appeared that Nina could not cross without a document confirming her status as a stateless person. Thus, Nina was left alone without any support from her family or close friends and without funds to live on. Obtaining the status of stateless person would help Nina receive a travel document for stateless persons, and she could return home to Crimea. Stateless persons also experience difficulties establishing the fact of their birth and residence in Ukraine at the time of the Soviet Union’s dissolution. The law “On Citizenship of Ukraine” specifies that all citizens of the former Soviet Union who were living permanently in Ukraine at the time Ukraine declared independence (August 24, 1991) and/or at the time when the law “On Citizenship of Ukraine” entered into force (November 13, 1991) are citizens of Ukraine. People who arrived in Ukraine for permanent residence after November 13, 1991 and whose Soviet passports of that year were stamped “Ukrainian citizen” by internal affairs agencies of Ukraine are also recognized as Ukrainian citizens if they applied to have their citizenship registered.44 44 Law “On Citizenship of Ukraine,” https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/223514/print 27