citizenship. The perception of stateless persons as being “asocial,” which the researcher heard during several of the interviews with authorities,136 was not confirmed by the researcher’s consultations with stateless persons, but could create a negative attitude towards this diverse group of people. Finally, while all stateless persons are considered to be aliens under national law, those who were interviewed saw Lithuania as their own country, and did not view themselves as aliens. 2.3.5 The situation of children born in Lithuania with a lack of nationality The number of registered stateless children in Lithuania is small so the researcher was only able to come into contact with the parents of one stateless child. The case concerned a girl who was born in Latvia to a “non-citizen” mother and a father who is a citizen of the Russian Federation. Although the researcher was not able to interview the child directly, her father has provided some good insights into the situation of children with a lack of nationality in Lithuania. CASE STUDY137 Olga138., female, 11 years old Country of birth: Latvia Olga is 11. She was born in Latvia but did not acquire the country’s citizenship because her mother was a “non-citizen” and her father was a Russian citizen born in Latvia. The Latvian authorities said she was entitled to Russian citizenship and if she did not want to opt for the latter, she would acquire the status of “non-citizen” in Latvia. When she was a baby, her parents separated and Olga moved to Lithuania with her father who had been running a business in both countries for a while. Her father soon “upgraded” his residence permit from temporary to permanent, but he could not do the same for his daughter because she was a “non-citizen”. He thus has to renew her residence permit every year, which is costly and takes time. Asked why Olga did not acquire Russian citizenship, her father answered: “Because I have decided so. My daughter has never even been to Russia. She has no family there, both of her parents were born in Latvia. Why is she not a Latvian citizen? And, in fact, she feels Lithuanian. Her mother tongue is, in theory, Russian, but she speaks much better Lithuanian than Russian. She has lived here all her life and has lost almost all ties to Latvia. But most importantly, imagine if she acquires Russian citizenship and then I die. What would the Lithuanian authorities do? They would deport her to Russia. And what would she do there?” Olga is a talented musician. Two years ago, she was accepted to a special boarding school in Vilnius, which combines a rigorous academic and music curriculum. Her father says he never encountered any problems in accessing health care or education; he never had to pay for services which would otherwise be provided for children with Lithuanian citizenship. “ But I need to change her status from temporary to permanent resident. I’m also thinking about my daughter’s future. She has lived in Lithuania all her life and, at least for now she sees herself living here all her life. I don’t want her to turn 18 and then have problems with naturalization. She is too young to think about it, but I think she will want to receive Lithuanian citizenship if she stays here. She embodies the concept of integration. The people here consider her one of them.” 38 136 The word used in Lithuanian was “asocialus”. 137 Interviewed on 10 September, 2012. 138 A pseudonym has been used to protect the identity of the participant. 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