Officials may extend the deadline for overseas Vietnamese to register for Vietnamese nationality. They may also make it easier for people who want to retain their nationality.
Nguyen Minh Thong, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly (NA)’s Committee on Legal Affairs, said that the Committee had asked the Government to present the issue for discussion at the NA session in May.
“We want to make sure in all cases that overseas Vietnamese can maintain their relationship with the country,” Thong said.
Overseas Vietnamese risk losing their Vietnamese citizenship if they do not register by July 1, according to the Law on Nationality, effective as of July 1, 2009.
Nguyen Cong Khanh, head of the Ministry of Justice’s Department of Civil Status, Nationality and Authentication, said that it was necessary for overseas Vietnamese to register if they wanted to enjoy citizenship rights.
However, Khanh noted that in some countries where only one nationality is allowed, few have chosen to retain their Vietnamese nationality.
He said amending the Law on Nationality would take time, but some short-term solutions would be used to extend the deadline. It would also make sure that those wishing to retain their nationality could easily do so, even online.-
