Vietnamese House Approves Dual Citizenship

[Teacher Mark 53]

The law eases citizenship restrictions on foreigners and overseas Vietnamese.

Under the Nationality Law that came into force in 1998, dual citizenship was banned, so people taking out Vietnamese citizenship had to relinquish their original nationality.

Under the amended law, foreigners eligible to take out Vietnamese citizenship and retain their origin nationalities would include those who:

- marry Vietnamese citizens or have Vietnamese parents or children;

- receive certificates or medals of merit from the State or the Government for their contribution to the country; and

- those whose citizenship would benefit Vietnam’s socio-economic development, science, national security or defense.

These categories of foreigners would be exempted from some Vietnamese citizenship criteria, such as being able to speak Vietnamese and residing in the country for at least five years.

The amended law, set to take effect on July 1 next year, also permits foreigners of unclear nationality to apply for Vietnamese citizenship three years after the new law takes effect.

The timeframe for processing Vietnamese nationality applications would also be reduced to nine months from the current 12 months, according to the amended law.

The government will issue further decrees with instructions on implementing the law.

http://www.thanhniennews.com/politics/?cat...mp;newsid=43761

[Melrose Plant 1]

Hmmm, I'm not sure I really understand the purpose of these changes in the law, unless it's an American War forgiveness kind of a thing. I'm just trying to figure out just exactly who would be wanting to get Vietnamese Citizenship, except for maybe those who were forced to flee Vietnam against their will. I'm sure someone would be happy to explain this to me.

[Dau_Que 0]

Vietnam is the only country in the world having the stupid law claiming VNese, who have become US citizens, are STILL VN citizens, unless they request and get approved from the VNese President.

When people "RAN" from your country and no longer wish to retain their former country citizenship (Vietnamese), please honor their wishes!

I might come back there to travel, and marry a citizen there, and in NO WAY, I desire to retain to be VNese!

[Dai. 7]

Vietnam is the only country in the world having the stupid law claiming VNese, who have become US citizens, are STILL VN citizens, unless they request and get approved from the VNese President.

When people "RAN" from your country and no longer wish to retain their former country citizenship (Vietnamese), please honor their wishes!

I might come back there to travel, and marry a citizen there, and in NO WAY, I desire to retain to be VNese!

I'm Probably wrong and this is just my hypothesis but I think they are doing that so they can count those people into their population just so they can present big number population to other countries when they are asking for aid or anything else. They got to do something for all the people who are wanting out of the country. Just my 2 cents....

[luckytxn 2,263]

I am hoping that it is a narrow law change. Some countries have considered a citizen to be still a citizen even if that person takes a citizenship from another country. Sounds simple enough but a citizen from a country has to still follow any laws from their former country and if you break a law then can be punished if you return. Say for example a Vietnamese citizen marries and becomes a citizen in another country. That person becomes a vocal critic of former country and enrages the government then they have broken a law. If that person comes back thne they can be arrested and punished. Now if they are a citizen of the United States and most other countries they are supposed to be allowed to talk to the embassy and ask for assistance. The government is supposed to under international law allowe the embassy person to see the citizen but if that person is considered a citizen of Vietnam than they can deny and say they are a citizen of Vietnam and to butt out.

Also I do know that some countried expect you to pay taxes and join the military if there is conscription in the former country if you are considered a citizen.

But again in Vietnam it is known that foreigners are not allowed to own land and such and to do so they have to put it under someones name that is a citizen. This could be a way that they are letting foreigners to come and live and eventually own land ro a house or a business to help stimulate the economy as they will probably be bring in money from outside. Who knows though. They could just be bored and be playing around and in a few years they will again change and say "Gotcha".

[lindal24 1]

I am a US Citizen born & raised and have on multiple occasions desired to get my Vietnamese Citizenship...so this is great news for me!

[cao 0]

I am a US Citizen born & raised and have on multiple occasions desired to get my Vietnamese Citizenship...so this is great news for me!

Don't worry, you are automatically Vietnamese even you are US born if you have rich money and properties in US. After that, you are caught with unknown or stupid reasons, US government cannot help you even you are US citizen because you are automatically Vietnamese under VN laws.

[dalegg 143]

Well, when you take the U.S oath for citizenship, you pledge to give up your citizenship and allegiance to your foreign country, so you can have dual citizenship, but the U.S just won't be one of the two.

The oath of allegiance is:

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

Edited March 17, 2009 by dalegg

[Craneman 2]

Since I have Medals given to me by the Vietnamese government this means I can become a citizen do to these.

No wait, they were given to me by the other vietamese government, not by the current communist regime, this means I am an enemy of the current government.

Don't you just love it.

The law eases citizenship restrictions on foreigners and overseas Vietnamese.

Under the Nationality Law that came into force in 1998, dual citizenship was banned, so people taking out Vietnamese citizenship had to relinquish their original nationality.

Under the amended law, foreigners eligible to take out Vietnamese citizenship and retain their origin nationalities would include those who:

- marry Vietnamese citizens or have Vietnamese parents or children;

- receive certificates or medals of merit from the State or the Government for their contribution to the country; and

- those whose citizenship would benefit Vietnam’s socio-economic development, science, national security or defense.

These categories of foreigners would be exempted from some Vietnamese citizenship criteria, such as being able to speak Vietnamese and residing in the country for at least five years.

The amended law, set to take effect on July 1 next year, also permits foreigners of unclear nationality to apply for Vietnamese citizenship three years after the new law takes effect.

The timeframe for processing Vietnamese nationality applications would also be reduced to nine months from the current 12 months, according to the amended law.

The government will issue further decrees with instructions on implementing the law.

http://www.thanhniennews.com/politics/?cat...mp;newsid=43761