Per the international refugee definition, a stateless individual’s claim for protection must be examined in relation to her country of “former habitual residence.”50 According to the UNCHR RSD Handbook, the definition of a country of “former habitual residence” is somewhat vague: “[T]he country in which [s]he had resided and where [s]he had suffered or fears [s]he would suffer persecution if [s]he returned.”51 Moreover, if the individual has multiple countries of former habitual residence, she is not required to fear return to all of them.52 Under U.S. law, the term “last habitual residence” is similarly ambiguous. It is not defined by statute and courts have applied the term inconsistently. Looking to the INA definition of the term “residence,” the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) has adopted the meaning to be “a place of general abode” or an individual’s “principal, actual dwelling place in fact, without regard to intent.”53 At least one court reached the conclusion that either an individual’s birth country or a country where the individual resided for a certain period of time could constitute his or her last habitual residence.54 In Paripovic v. Gonzales,55 the Third Circuit took a quantitative approach, focusing on the length of time the individual resided in a country and determined that two years was sufficient to meet the definition of “habitual.” Alternatively, proponents of a more qualitative approach have argued that an individual’s intent to remain in a certain country should be considered under the last habitual residence analysis.56 It is important to note that while a stateless individual may have last habitually resided in a country, it does not necessarily mean that she was firmly resettled there.57 2. National Protection and the Country of Last Habitual Residence Under the 1951 Refugee Convention, the refugee definition takes into consideration the particular situation of stateless refugees in terms of the relationship with the government of last habitual residence. Specifically, whereas refugees generally must show that they are “unable or . . . unwilling to avail himself of the protection of” the country of her nationality, stateless refugees must show that “owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is . . . outside the country of his former habitual residence . . . [and] is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.” 58 See United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, art. 1A(2), July 28, 1951, 189 U.N.T.S. 137 [hereinafter 1951 Refugee Convention], available at http://www.refworld.org/docid/3be01b964.html. 51 UNHCR, HANDBOOK AND GUIDELINES ON PROCEDURES AND CRITERIA FOR DETERMINING REFUGEE STATUS UNDER THE 1951 CONVENTION AND THE 1967 PROTOCOL RELATING TO THE STATUS OF REFUGEES at ¶103, U.N. DOC. HCR/1P/4/ENG/REV.3 (Dec. 2011) [hereinafter UNHCR Refugee Handbook], available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/4f33c8d92.html. 52 Id. at ¶104. 53 See INA §101 (a)(33). 54 Ouda v. INS, 324 F.3d 445, 447 (6th Cir. 2003); see also Elian v. Ashcroft, 370 F.3d 897, 897-901 (9th Cir. 2004) (considering a stateless asylum applicant’s claim in the context of both his birthplace and his country of last habitual residence). 55 418 F. 3d 240, 242 (3d Cir. 2005). 56 See, e.g., Sarah B. Fenn, Paripovic v. Gonzales: Defining Last Habitual Residence for Stateless Asylum Applicants, 40 UC DAVIS L. REV. 1545 (2007). 57 See ASYLUM OFFICE BASIC TRAINING COURSE (AOBTC), LESSON: DEFINITION OF REFUGEE; DEFINITION OF PERSECUTION; ELIGIBILITY BASED ON PAST PERSECUTION 13 (Mar. 6, 2009), available at https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Humanitarian/Refugees%20%26%20Asylum/Asylum/AOBTC%20Lesson% 20Plans/Definition-Refugee-Persecution-Eligibiity-31aug10.pdf. 58 1951 Refugee Convention, supra note 49, at Art. 1(A)(2). 50 14