THIS IS VICTORIA. She was officially recognized as a stateless person in France in 2015. France is the country with the oldest statelessness determination procedure in place globally. Since the moment it was established in 1953, stateless persons have been able to obtain a residence permit and exercise a range of rights, and subsequently apply for citizenship. Victoria dreams of travelling the world without worrying about her status. She also dreams of acquiring French citizenship: “when you do not belong to any country you cannot feel complete […] you feel as if you are rejected from society”. To learn more about Victoria, please see http://goo.gl/fASpo6. © UNHCR/ Benjamin Loyseau Protection status as a pathway to citizenship Prevention of statelessness © UNHCR / Roland Schönbauer THIS IS MARIA. She is one of over 212,000 persons who received Moldovan identity cards during a Government campaign in 2013-2014 to replace for free all expired Soviet passports. During the campaign, mobile teams were deployed to visit elderly persons or the disabled who may have needed help at their homes. Now Maria, among others, can have her pension back and pass on her property to her daughter. To learn more about Maria please see http://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/2674/. STATELESSNESS IN EUROPE 11