The record holder for the longest stay in an airport is: Mehran Karimi Nasseri - 18 years

[Tx4obama]

Mehran Karimi Nasseri (born 1942), also known as Sir Alfred Mehran, is an Iranian refugee who lived in the departure lounge of Terminal One in Charles de Gaulle Airport from 26 August 1988 until July 2006, when he was hospitalized for an unspecified ailment. His autobiography has been published as a book (The Terminal Man) and was the basis for the movie The Terminal.

-snip-

Having claimed to have one British parent, although he has produced no evidence to support this, he decided to settle in the UK in 1986, but en route there in 1988, his briefcase containing his papers was stolen in Paris.[4] Despite this setback, he boarded the plane for London but was promptly returned to France when he failed to present a passport to British immigration. He was initially arrested by the French, but then released as his entry to the airport was legal and as he had no country of origin to be returned to; thus began his residency at Terminal 1.

His case was later taken on by French human rights lawyer Christian Bourget. In 1992, French courts ruled that, having entered the country legally, he could not be expelled from the airport, but it could not grant him permission to enter France.

Attempts were then made to have new documents issued from Belgium, but the authorities there would only do so if Nasseri presented himself in person. However, under Belgian law a refugee who voluntarily leaves a country that has accepted him cannot return. In 1995, the Belgian authorities granted permission for him to return, but only if he agreed to live there under supervision of a social worker. Nasseri refused this on the grounds of wanting to enter the UK as originally intended.

Nasseri's stay at the airport ended in July 2006 when he was hospitalized and his sitting place dismantled. Towards the end of January 2007, he left the hospital and was looked after by the airport's branch of the French Red Cross; he was lodged for a few weeks in a hotel close to the airport. On March 6, 2007, he transferred to an Emmaus charity reception centre in Paris's twentieth arrondissement. As of 2008, he continues to live in a Paris shelter.

-snip-

Full BIO, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehran_Karimi_Nasseri

h/t to dipsydoodle

[TheMadMonk]

1. So is this you saying you're willing to back down on your attitude towards Snowden if he toughs...

...it out for 18 years in Moscow?

[Tx4obama]

2. No, I am not saying anything other than what is in the OP.

There is no 'deep meaning' that can be inferred.

The story of the man in the French airport was interesting to me and so I thought I'd share it here on DU.