« « I used to be a person who could make a dead man laugh, I was funny, I took everything lightly, today I get angry about anything.” Sometimes I reflect about the price, why I live at all. I have a mom, a nice family, this is the only thing which stops me from ending my life, nothing more. I really do not have anything in this life.” The interviewed persons also described experiencing the consequences of the sense of losing one´s own national identity. They perceived it as a betrayal or fraud, as a missing anchor and certainty in life. Some of them even internally identified themselves as stateless persons. For most of them though, this identity was only assigned to them or resulted from a situation that they had faced in life. Some tried to fight it but most eventually resigned and accepted that they are stateless. « « « I feel like I am nobody. That’s it. A stateless person is nobody. Someone who does not exist. This is how I feel.” I am visible, but when you have no rights, you’re nobody. I just don´t exist as a normal person.” It feels terrible. Disaster. I feel inside like I am not a complete person.” 6.9 Future plans and prospects The main life strategy of the stateless persons interviewed in the study revolved around finding a viable solution to their situation. Some of the interviewed persons still considered returning to their country of origin or former habitual residence. This option was preferred mostly by those who have families there and have obligations towards them. Nevertheless, their thoughts of returning were accompanied by doubts. Others were afraid of being forced to return as this would expose them to an environment where they do not belong or where they may be exposed to harm. They found it impossible to be returned to a place that they did not identify with. Most interviewed persons were convinced that resolving their current plight by returning to the country of former habitual residence would not be possible. Regularising their stay by obtaining a residence status and finding stability in the Czech Republic appeared more realistic. Indeed, the interviews have shown that despite described difficulties, the interviewed persons have formed ties to the Czech Republic over the course of their stay, often longer than 10 years. They are fluent in Czech and are adapted to the life in the Czech Republic. The loss of nationality has become an intervening variable in their lives. They believed that the solution resides in obtaining a residence status in the form of permanent residence that would allow them to live ordinary lives instead of the uncertainty which most of them experience. Their perceptions of the future were therefore closely linked to resolving their residence status. It shows that the preferred solution to statelessness is the eventual acquisition of Czech nationality, if there were a realistic pathway established in the national legislation. « « I am telling you, I know Prague better than the place I was born. I feel good here in any situation.” Interviewer: So do I understand it right that you feel more like Czech? Participant: Well, I even dream in Czech already. UNHCR Czech Republic 47