Dear Friends,

As many of you know, I moved to Poland when I was 12 years old. This country has been my home, a place where I lived through my teenage years, made many friends, experienced many things. I grew into the Polish culture and Polish became my native language.

After 10 years (yes, that’s how long it takes) I was allowed to apply for Polish citizenship. I received a response after 2 (!) years, in September 2011, which was considered “soon”. Unfortunately, the President decided to grant me citizenship “conditional on the provision of a proof of forfeiture or release from prior citizenship”. The President does not have to justify such a decision and, by contrast, my mother, who applied at the same time as me, has received no conditions and is a lucky holder of a Polish ID since January 2012.

Having no other choice, I travelled to Russia several times in order to arrange the renunciation of Russian citizenship, which was a very painful process and cost me a lot of time, effort and mental energy. This week (on the 11th of July, 2012) I have finally picked up the paper stating that I have been released from Russian citizenship and have therefore become stateless. As romantic and adventurous as it may sound, it means that I have no actual rights for education or employment and cannot travel beyond the Polish borders.

I have met many obstacles in my ambitious life due to not being an EU-citizen. I needed a visa to come and do my Erasmus year in the Netherlands (before Poland became one of the Schengen countries). I was not allowed to work there alongside my studies. I could not take up a student assistant position that was offered to me at the Dutch university. I needed a visa again to do an internship at a university in Scotland. And of course, I had to pay international level tuition fees (being lucky enough to gather scholarships along the way which covered them). I was patient, however, because I knew I was not the only one in this situation – having friends from Asia and Africa and seeing how they go through the same issues. The only annoyance was that I had no connection with Russia and felt Polish, European but was not treated as such.

Now, though, my last straw has arrived. I have delivered the proof of release from Russian citizenship to the Chancellery of the President of Poland (on 13.07) and was told that the procedure of giving me Polish citizenship (as promised) will take at least 3 months, perhaps up to 6. After that I still need to wait another month for a Polish ID. It means that I must remain stateless for at least the next 4 months. Due to health problems and citizenship issues, I was unable to finish my studies in Amsterdam on time and need to re-enroll for the next year. I also have a fully funded PhD position waiting for me in the Netherlands to commence in October 2012. I cannot do either when being stateless which is a potential source of financial costs (do I have to give back the scholarship I’ve been receiving for my studies in Amsterdam if I don’t finish on time? how can I make my living in the meantime? will the PhD position be taken away from me?), a blow on my academic progress and a very personal pain (having left someone dear to me in the UK and not being able to visit).

I believe it is absurd that in the 21st century, in a country that is part of the European Union, someone who feels profoundly European and has fulfilled all that is required of them to be legally recognized as such, needs to face such problems. Not much in the whole process is regulated and the President has no official deadlines to stick to. It is not written down anywhere how long it takes to get the citizenship, whether you get it conditionally or not or how long it takes to remain in the stateless position. There is also no way to obtain a temporary document that would enable be to function within the European Union normally and carry on with my affairs. There is no one I can plead to for consideration of the special circumstances of my situation.

Please, if anyone knows who I can contact who would be able to help (human rights organizations? politicians? friends of the President of Poland?) or has heard of anyone else in my position, do let me know. And above all, spread the word about this story. I realize that I’m better off than millions of stateless people from the countries of war and poverty, but, as you know, all problems are relative and if I can take a stand on at least this personal issue and help others who might be facing similar difficulties, I need to make my voice heard.

Yours truly,

Katja Abramova