CASE STUDY126 V.J., male, 53 years old Country of birth: Russian Federation “ This is a major problem. My daughter is studying in the UK. Seeing her costs me 5000 Litas, because I have to travel to Warsaw for a visa, sometimes more than once. Russian and Ukrainian visas for business purposes are ludicrously expensive. If I were a Lithuanian citizen, I would not even need one for Ukraine, for example. I need to renew the Travel Document every two years, which takes time and money, again. This constant chasing after documents is exhausting. Sometimes I have border guards stare at the Travel Document not knowing what it is. As if I was an alien. In Turkey, I was stopped at the passport control point at the airport for more than two hours!” CASE127 STUDY D.A., male, 65 years old Country of birth: Russian Federation D.A. had worked as a driver until his retirement in 2009. He lives in a flat he owns together with his wife. His only complaint and problem caused by the fact that he is stateless is the issue of travelling to Russia to visit his family: “ I am retired. Where would I get so much money? If I had Russian citizenship, I would just get into the car and go visit my family. Now, for example, I could not even go to my brother’s funeral. They could not wait for me to sort out the documents. (…) For God’s sake, I would just like to go visit my family. I haven’t been home for five or six years. When will I go back to at least say goodbye to everyone?” 2.3.4 Stateless persons’ wishes to acquire Lithuanian citizenship There seems to be a general perception that persons who are stateless in Lithuania are so largely through their own fault, though many staff members at the local migration agencies have a more nuanced view.128 It bears emphasizing here that this is of no legal consequence under the statelessness Conventions, as will be discussed in more detail elsewhere in this report. Of the fifteen participants who were either born in Lithuania or had already been living in the country when it restored its independence, three reported that they chose not to opt for Lithuanian citizenship in 1989. All three were born outside Lithuania and reported that they decided to remain stateless because it was easier to travel back to their countries of origin that way, using their Soviet passports. They also mentioned a sense of insecurity over the future of an independent Lithuanian State at that time and, in some cases, uncertainty over whether they would stay in Lithuania or move to another country. Three other persons reported that they believed they did not acquire Lithuanian citizenship through their own inaction, but they all found it difficult to explain why. V.B. (a 61 year old woman) indicates a lack of priority: 36 126 Interviewed on 10 September 2012. 127 Interviewed on 5 September 2012. 128 Interview with representatives from the Migration Department on 7 August 2012. Through the “zero option” procedure, people were deemed to be able to obtain Lithuanian citizenship. 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