Decree No. 78/2009/ND-CP: Viet kieu without Vietnamese passports to register for retention of Vietnamese nationality before July 1, 2014.

The Government issued Decree No 78/2009/ND-CP on September 22, guiding the implementation of some articles of the Law on Citizenship.

The Government issued Decree No 78/2009/ND-CP on September 22, guiding the implementation of some articles of the Law on Citizenship.

Effective July 1, 2009, a Vietnamese citizen holding foreign citizenship is entitled to retain his Vietnamese citizenship.

The decree also provides that a Vietnamese citizen who has settled abroad and has not lost his/her citizenship under Vietnamese law prior to July 1, 2009, but does not have a valid Vietnamese passport, may register to retain Vietnamese citizenship. The deadline to do so is July 1, 2014.

In addition, debtors with tax or other obligations to individuals or organisations in Viet Nam would be unable to renounce their citizenship if the creditor requests the relevant authority not to approve such renunciation.

Under the decree, documents renouncing Vietnamese citizenship granted by authorised agencies of foreign countries must be legalised and documents in foreign languages must be translated into Vietnamese and certified in accordance with Vietnamese law.

(Source: VNN)