In other words, Stserba did not switch citizenship due to the dissolution of
her country of prior citizenship or as an incident of changed boundaries. Rather, she was
an Estonian citizen
6 who was stripped of citizenship and became stateless
7 for several
years on account of her ethnicity.
6 . Although the administrative record is thin on this point, the IJ’s statement adopting Stserba’s
description of how citizenship functioned in the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (“SSR”) seems to have
some basis in fact. Estonian SSR residents “had been Soviet citizens” during the occupation, but “[t]he
citizenship of the Republic of Estonia never ceased to exist.” Citizenship - Estonia.eu,
http://estonia.eu/about-estonia/soci...tizenship.html (Feb. 2, 2011). “During the years of occupation,
the Estonian diplomatic service in exile issued Estonian passports, which were recognised as travel
documents by many countries of the world, eventually even by the Russian Federation.” Id. In particular,
the United States “refused de jure recognition of the Soviet annexation of the Baltic States.” Visek,
Creating the Ethnic Electorate through Legal Restorationism, supra, at 326 (describing actions that the
United States took, including “fr[ee]z[ing] assets belonging to the Baltic States in order to protect such
assets from Soviet seizure; allow[ing] the diplomatic representatives of the deposed Baltic governments
to continue to represent the interests of their respective countries; and repeatedly denounc[ing] the Soviet
annexation as illegal”)
...
Revoking citizenship on account of ethnicity
may be persecution, and the BIA
should consider that question in the first instance.
Moreover, sweeping limitations on
Stserba’s job opportunities as a doctor compel a finding that she was persecuted on
account of her ethnicity. Therefore, we GRANT the petitioners’ petition for review and
VACATE the BIA’s decision.