Ministry of Justice proposes to "loosen" naturalization policy, regain Vietnamese nationality

In the draft law, the Ministry of Justice proposed amending regulations on conditions for obtaining Vietnamese nationality to facilitate cases where the father or mother or paternal or maternal grandparents are Vietnamese citizens; foreign investors, scientists, experts... to obtain Vietnamese nationality.

Sample of Vietnamese passport (green). Illustration photo

Specifically, the draft law amends the provisions in Clause 1, Article 19 in the direction that minors whose father or mother is a Vietnamese citizen do not need to meet the condition of "having full civil act capacity".

Amending and supplementing the provisions in Clause 2, Article 19 in the direction that applicants for Vietnamese nationality who have a father or mother or paternal or maternal grandparents who are Vietnamese citizens; have made special contributions to the cause of building and defending the Vietnamese Fatherland or are beneficial to the Vietnamese State will be exempted from certain conditions. These cases are allowed to submit their applications at Vietnamese representative agencies abroad without having to return to their home country for permanent residence.

Another important change in the draft law is the proposal to remove the provision on special cases of obtaining Vietnamese nationality while simultaneously retaining foreign nationality, and assign the Government to stipulate specific conditions.

Cases of applying for Vietnamese nationality while retaining foreign nationality only need to satisfy two conditions. First, the person's application to retain foreign nationality when acquiring Vietnamese nationality is in accordance with the laws of that foreign country. Second, the foreign nationality must not be used to harm the legitimate rights and interests of agencies, organizations and individuals; or to infringe upon the security, national interests, social order and safety of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

In addition, the draft law clearly states that all cases of losing Vietnamese nationality and applying to regain Vietnamese nationality can be considered for regaining Vietnamese nationality.

The draft amends and supplements Clause 5, Article 23 of the Law on Vietnamese Nationality in the direction of removing 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 will stipulate that cases of requesting to regain Vietnamese nationality while retaining foreign nationality only need to meet two conditions: The person's request to retain their foreign nationality when regaining Vietnamese nationality is in accordance with the laws of that foreign country; not using foreign nationality to harm the rights and legitimate interests of agencies, organizations and individuals; infringing on the security, national interests, social order and safety of the State of Vietnam.

Because of the “relaxation” of regulations on obtaining/returning Vietnamese nationality while simultaneously retaining foreign nationality, the draft Law adds the following provision: “Vietnamese citizens who simultaneously 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.

Explaining this proposal, the drafting agency said that the Vietnamese community abroad has about 6 million people, living in more than 130 countries and territories.

Of these, as of March 2025, 229,336 people had been allowed by the President to renounce their Vietnamese nationality. Recently, some countries have changed their nationality laws and policies, allowing citizens to hold dual nationality. This has led to an increase in cases where people who previously requested to renounce their Vietnamese nationality to acquire foreign nationality now wish to regain Vietnamese nationality while still retaining their foreign nationality.

As of March 2025, the President has restored Vietnamese nationality to 311 cases, of which 20 cases were restored to Vietnamese nationality while retaining foreign nationality; and granted Vietnamese nationality to 7,014 cases, of which 60 cases were granted Vietnamese nationality while retaining foreign nationality.

In the context of the country preparing to enter a new era, the Ministry of Justice finds that some current regulations related to procedures for acquiring/reclaiming Vietnamese nationality have not really created conditions for the Vietnamese community abroad to obtain Vietnamese nationality while still retaining foreign nationality; and have not attracted many high-quality human resources to contribute to the country's development.

Therefore, the drafting agency assessed that the study to amend and supplement a number of articles of the Law on Vietnamese Nationality, including "relaxing" the policy on obtaining/returning Vietnamese nationality, aims to continue to promptly and fully institutionalize the Party's policies and guidelines on the work of overseas Vietnamese. This aims to create more favorable conditions for foreigners and the overseas Vietnamese community to return to the country to invest, produce, do business, promote the development of science and technology, innovation and digital transformation... Thereby, contributing to attracting high-quality human resources to contribute to the development of the country in the new era.

According to VOV

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/bo-tu-phap-de-xuat-noi-long-chinh-sach-nhap-tich-tro-lai-quoc-tich-viet-nam-245076.htm