by EUDO CITIZENSZHIP collaborator Roxana Barbulescu

7.5 percent of Estonia’s population of 1.3 million holds an Estonian “alien passaport”, according to an article published by the New York Times on August 15, 2010. These people, mostly ethnic Russians, are stateless despite having been born and raised in Estonia. The “alien passport” gives them the right to excercise free movement just as Estonian passports do, but it requires a longer bureaucratic procedure than the latter. Furthermore, the possesion of an alien passport prevents the holder from appying for some jobs in the public sector. These people, says the New York Times, “are stuck in the middle. And both sides are taking advantage of them.”

Read the article by Clifford J. Levy “Soviet Legacy Lingers as Estonia Defines Its People”, New York Times, 15 August 2010