What Happens When the System Says You Don’t Exist

A man lived in an airport for 18 years—not because he was trapped, but because the system lost him. Somehow, he did not exist; he fell off the grid, he disappeared. This true story reveals how documents, rules, and verification can erase a person in plain sight. In 1988, Mehran Karimi Nasseri became stuck inside a Paris airport—not by force, but by paperwork. No arrest. No detention. Just a system…