Amending the Nationality Law: An important step to 'untie' the legal aspect

This amendment to the Nationality Law is an important step to "untie" the legal aspect. Illustrative photo

Proposal to amend regulations on conditions for obtaining Vietnamese nationality

The Ministry of Justice has just announced the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Vietnamese Nationality. The draft Law amends and supplements the content of 17/44 articles. Among them is the content amending and supplementing the provisions on regaining Vietnamese nationality.

Accordingly, all cases of losing Vietnamese nationality and applying to regain Vietnamese nationality can be considered for regaining Vietnamese nationality. The name of this Article is amended to "Conditions for regaining Vietnamese nationality" to ensure consistency with the content.

In addition, this time, Clause 5, Article 23, was also amended and supplemented to remove the provision that "People who are allowed to regain Vietnamese nationality must renounce their foreign nationality" and special cases where they are allowed to retain their foreign nationality. Accordingly, the Government is assigned to regulate cases where people apply to regain Vietnamese nationality while retaining their foreign nationality, only two conditions need to be met: First, the person's application to retain their foreign nationality when regaining Vietnamese nationality is in accordance with the laws of that foreign country.

Second, do not use foreign nationality to harm the legitimate rights and interests of agencies, organizations and individuals; infringe upon the security, national interests, social order and safety of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

According to the Ministry of Justice, because of "relaxing" the regulations on obtaining/returning Vietnamese nationality while simultaneously retaining foreign nationality, the draft Law adds the following provision: "Vietnamese citizens who also have foreign nationality when exercising the rights to run for election, be recruited for positions, work in State apparatus organizations, socio-political organizations, and participate in the armed forces of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam must renounce their foreign nationality and must permanently reside in Vietnam. In cases where relevant laws differ from this provision, the provisions of this Law shall apply." This is to ensure sovereignty, political security, national interests as well as the loyalty and responsibility of citizens towards the State of Vietnam.

In addition, the Ministry of Justice proposed that the Ministry of Public Security verify the identity of all applications for naturalization/restitution of Vietnamese nationality received at Vietnamese representative agencies abroad to ensure political security issues.

Expectation to create a favorable environment for overseas Vietnamese to return home to invest and do business

Explaining this proposal, the drafting agency said that the change in nationality policy of many countries in the world, allowing citizens to have dual nationality, has prompted many Vietnamese people who had renounced their nationality to obtain foreign nationality to express their desire to regain Vietnamese nationality. This wish has also been expressed by representatives of many overseas Vietnamese communities to the leaders of the Party and State.

As of March 2025, the President has decided to restore Vietnamese nationality to 311 cases and naturalize Vietnamese nationality to 7,014 cases. Of these, 60 cases were granted Vietnamese nationality while retaining foreign nationality, with the majority being people with special contributions to the country.

However, the Ministry of Justice found that current regulations still have some barriers, not really creating favorable conditions for the Vietnamese community abroad. The common wish of many overseas Vietnamese is to have Vietnamese nationality while still being able to retain foreign nationality.

Therefore, the drafting agency assessed that the "relaxation" of the policy on obtaining and re-acquiring Vietnamese nationality is an important step to continue institutionalizing the Party's policies and guidelines for overseas Vietnamese. This is expected to create a more favorable environment for overseas Vietnamese and foreigners to return to the country to invest, produce, and do business, while promoting the development of science and technology and innovation.

Recently, at a working session with the Department of Administrative Justice on the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Vietnamese Nationality, Deputy Minister of Justice Nguyen Thanh Ngoc emphasized that the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Vietnamese Nationality is currently focusing on studying 3 main contents that need to be closely followed during the process of construction and completion.

Firstly, expand the subjects allowed to regain Vietnamese nationality, especially those who have lost their nationality, including both adults and children.

Second, simplify administrative procedures related to re-acquiring nationality to create more favorable conditions for people.

Third, review and evaluate legal regulations related to the rights and obligations of people regaining Vietnamese nationality, especially in the context where such individuals still retain foreign nationality.

Regarding the expansion of the subjects, the Deputy Minister said that the draft Law is considering the possibility of allowing children whose father or mother has Vietnamese nationality to acquire Vietnamese nationality in case the child's foreign nationality is still retained, on condition that the remaining country allows dual nationality with simpler procedures than before.

The Deputy Minister also emphasized that, in the context of the country's increasingly deep integration, the need of overseas Vietnamese to return to their homeland is increasing. In many cases, although they have Vietnamese blood, because they do not have citizenship, they cannot fully exercise their rights and obligations towards the country.

"This amendment to the Law is an important step to "untie" the legal aspect, opening up opportunities to attract valuable resources from the overseas Vietnamese community (including knowledge, technology, finance and high-quality human resources...) to contribute to the country's development in the new era," Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Ngoc emphasized.

Besides the positive aspects, the Deputy Minister also frankly acknowledged some challenges that may arise such as security issues, legal conflicts or property disputes related to people with multiple nationalities.

The Deputy Minister affirmed that these risks have all occurred and are occurring, therefore, it is possible to control these risks through the establishment of strict and transparent "request-grant" mechanisms, approved on the basis of specific and clear conditions for each specific case, ensuring both expanding opportunities and maintaining legal discipline and national interests.

Dieu Anh

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/sua-doi-luat-quoc-tich-buoc-di-quan-trong-de-coi-troi-ve-mat-phap-ly-102250410101030558.htm