Lithuanian SSR to be also a citizen of the USSR.27 Although statelessness as a concept was described in the Law on the Citizenship of the USSR, passed on 19 August 1938,28 all registered residents of Lithuania were proclaimed citizens of the Lithuanian SSR and the USSR.29 Not until 1981, however, was naturalization of aliens and stateless persons mentioned in legislation.30 The policy of openness and restructuring promoted in the USSR in the 1980s resulted in a renewed impetus for Lithuania to regain independence. A national movement known as Sąjūdis emerged at the forefront of these efforts. It called for national sovereignty, which encompassed sovereignty over the status of the citizenship of the Lithuanian SSR.31 On 3 November 1989, four months before the restoration of independence, the Supreme Council of the Lithuanian SSR passed the Law on Citizenship of the Lithuanian SSR. It separated the citizenship of the Lithuanian SSR from that of the USSR, thereby redefining the body of citizens of the country. According to the new law of 1989, citizens of the Lithuanian SSR were; 1. former citizens of the Republic of Lithuania, their children and grandchildren, as well as other permanent residents on the territory of the Lithuanian SSR prior to 15 June 1940, their children and grandchildren permanently residing on the territory of the Lithuanian SSR; or 2. persons who have a permanent place of residence in the Lithuanian SSR, provided they or at least one of their parents or grandparents were born on its territory, and provided that they are not citizens of another State; or 3. other permanent residents on the territory of the Republic who, on the day the Citizenship law entered into force, had a permanent place of employment or other legal source of support. This group could decide freely on their citizenship for two years from the entry of the force of the law; or 4. persons who had acquired citizenship of the Lithuanian SSR through naturalization and by way of exception. Persons in categories one through three above were considered citizens but had to sign a pledge to the Republic promising to observe the Constitution and laws of the Lithuanian SSR and to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lithuania. In addition, persons in the third category had to “freely choose their citizenship”32 within two years of entry into force of the 1989 law. Those who were eighteen years of age or older and who had not applied for the issuance of a Lithuanian SSR passport within two years of the date of entry into force of the law would be considered as having not accepted the citizenship of the Lithuanian SSR.33 This provision is known in Lithuania as the “zero option,” by which all persons lawfully and permanently residing in Lithuania had the right to obtain its citizenship, “irrespective of the grounds on which their residence rested.”34 16 27 Kūris, E. “Country Report: Lithuania”, EUDO Citizenship Observatory Country Reports (2010), p. 11. 28 Article 8 prescribed that “persons residing within the territory of the USSR, who under the provisions of the present law are not citizens of the USSR and who possess no proof of foreign citizenship, shall be considered as stateless persons.” 29 Sinkevičius, V., Lietuvos Respublikos pilietybė 1918-2001 metais / Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania 1918-2001. Vilnius: Teisinės informacijos centras, 2002, p. 84. 30 Ibid, p. 96. 31 Ibid, p. 99. 32 The 3 November 1989 Supreme Council of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic Law on Citizenship, Article 1(3). 33 Ibid, Article 2. Notably, every resident of the USSR had his or her exact place of residence recorded in their passport. For the purposes of the application of the law, this record was proof of the person being a permanent resident in Lithuania. As such, the length of their residence or the grounds for it did not matter in terms of being able to choose citizenship. 34 Kūris, E. “Country Report: Lithuania”, EUDO Citizenship Observatory Country Reports (2010), p. 17. M A P P I N G S TAT E L E S S N E S S I N L I T H UA N I A