Nikolai Levashov, who is in an immigration limbo, speaks to reporters about his stateless situation during an interview on Oct. 16. (Photo by Photo by Adrian Fussell via The Riverdale Press)
Nikolai Levashov of Riverdale finds himself in a predicament faced by an estimated 4,000 people in the U.S. – he’s stateless.
The Riverdale Press’ Isabel Angell writes that he came to the U.S. from Estonia on a student visa about 10 years ago. When he went to renew his passport for a second time – the first time being at the country’s consulate in Los Angeles – consulate officials in NYC told him he could only renew it in Estonia.
The reason? The passport, which he showed The Press, he holds is not a true Estonian passport. Instead, the current Riverdale resident has an “alien’s passport,” a travel document the Estonian government issued to many of the ethnic Russians who found themselves living in Estonia after the fall of the Soviet Union. The alien’s passport gives its holder legal residence in Estonia, but does not grant citizenship, rendering them stateless. According to the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees, about 91,000 stateless people currently live in Estonia.
By the time Levashov tried renewing his “alien passport” in NYC, the Estonian government had passed legislation that said such passport holders had to return to the country to renew the document, something not required of Estonian citizens.
But returning to Estonia was not an option. Visit The Riverdale Press to read how Levashov ended up stateless and why he doesn’t consider his situation an individual case.