How overseas Vietnamese apply for a certificate of Vietnamese citizenship
I am an overseas Vietnamese and have been naturalized in a foreign country but not yet renounced Vietnamese citizenship. If wishing to be granted a certificate of Vietnamese citizenship, where can I file an application for the certificate and which documents do I need to prepare?
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Under Government Decree 16/2020/ND-CP dated February 3, 2020, detailing a number of articles of the Law on Vietnamese Citizenship, in order to obtain a certificate of Vietnamese citizenship, you have to file proofs of your Vietnamese citizenship as specified in Article 11 of the Law on Vietnamese Citizenship.
Specifically, your dossier of application for a certificate of Vietnamese citizenship must comprise a written declaration made according to a set form enclosed with four 4cm x 6cm photos of you taken in the last six months and a copy of one of the following papers:
- Your birth certificate. In case your birth certificate does not clearly show your Vietnamese citizenship, it must be enclosed with papers proving that your parents hold Vietnamese citizenship;
- Your valid citizen identity card;
- Your valid Vietnamese passport;
- The decision permitting your naturalization in Vietnam, decision permitting restoration of your Vietnamese citizenship, decision recognizing adoption of a foreign child, or decision permitting foreigner(s) to adopt a Vietnamese child.
In case you have none of the above-mentioned papers to prove your Vietnamese citizenship, you have to make a resume and enclose it with one of the following papers specified in Clause 2, Article 28 of Decree 16/2020/ND-CP:
- Papers on citizenship, civic status, household registration, personal identification or other papers granted by Vietnamese competent agencies to Vietnamese citizens in the period from 1945 to July 1, 2009, which show Vietnamese citizenship or information relating to Vietnamese citizenship and citizens;
- Papers on citizenship, civic status, household registration, personal identification or other papers granted by the former South Vietnam administration before April 30, 1975, or those granted by the former administration in Hanoi during the period from 1911 to 1954, which show Vietnamese citizenship or information related to Vietnamese citizenship and citizens.
| 1. Order 53/SL[2] dated October 20, 1945, on Vietnamese citizenship;
2. Order 73/SL[3] dated December 7, 1945, on the naturalization in Vietnam; 3. Order 25/SL[4] dated February 25, 1946, amending Order 53/SL dated October 20, 1945, on Vietnamese citizenship; 4. Order 215/SL[5] dated August 20, 1948, providing special benefits for foreigners who support the country’s resistance to war; 5. Order 051/SL[6] of December 14, 1959, annulling Articles 5 and 6 of Order 53/SL dated October 20, 1945, on Vietnamese citizenship; 6. The National Assembly Standing Committee’s Resolution 1043/NQ-TVQHK6 dated February 8, 1971, on application for permission for renunciation of Vietnamese citizenship or naturalization in Vietnam; 7. The Prime Minister’s Decision 268/TTg dated September 12, 1980, on policies to permit renunciation or restoration of Vietnamese citizenship of overseas Vietnamese; 8. The 1988 Law on Vietnamese Citizenship, and its guiding texts; 9. The 1988 Law on Vietnamese Citizenship, and its guiding texts; 10. The 2008 Law on Vietnamese Citizenship, and its guiding texts; 11. Treaties concerning citizenship to which Vietnam is a contracting party. |
Except the application, declaration form and resume, which must be originals, all other papers may be non-certified or certified copies of the originals or copies issued from original records. In case you hand-deliver your dossier, you will be required to produce the originals of non-certified copies for collation. The dossier recipient will check and collate these copies with their originals and sign up for certification. If the dossier is sent by post, non-certified copies will not be accepted. Also, you should note that signatures in the application, declaration form and resume must be certified in accordance with law.
Regarding the place of dossier submission, under Article 30 of Decree 16/2020/ND-CP, you may file your dossier at the provincial-level Justice Department of the locality where you reside while in Vietnam or the Vietnamese representative mission in the foreign country where you are residing by the time you file your application.
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[1] Article 28 of Decree 16/2020/ND-CP.
[2] Issued by Ho Chi Minh, who was then the leader of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam’s Government.
[3] Ditto.
[4] Ditto.
[5] Ditto.
[6] Issued by President Ho Chi Minh of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
(Source: vietnamlawmagazine.vn)
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