The nationality principle

According to current regulations at Article 4 of the 2008 Law on Vietnamese Nationality, Vietnamese citizens have only one nationality, which is Vietnamese nationality, except for the following 4 cases:

- Overseas Vietnamese who have not yet lost Vietnamese nationality as mentioned above Clause 2, Article 13 of the Law on Vietnamese Nationality. Accordingly, if you settle abroad but have not lost Vietnamese nationality before July 1, 2009, you still have Vietnamese nationality.

- People with foreign nationality apply for Vietnamese nationality when they are spouses, biological parents or biological children of Vietnamese citizens; have special meritorious contributions to the cause of building and protecting the Fatherland or are beneficial to Vietnam or other special cases permitted by the President (according to Clause 2, Article 19 of the Law on Vietnamese Nationality).

- Persons permitted to restore Vietnamese nationality shall not renounce their foreign nationality. Accordingly, cases of dual citizenship include: spouses, biological parents or biological children of Vietnamese citizens; have special meritorious contributions to the cause of building and protecting the Fatherland or are beneficial to Vietnam or other special cases permitted by the President (Clause 5, Article 23 of the Law on Vietnamese Nationality).

- Vietnamese children are adopted by foreigners. At that time, the children in this case still retain Vietnamese nationality, so they can still have dual nationality if foreign law allows (Article 37 of the Law on Vietnamese Nationality).

Therefore, in the four cases mentioned above, citizens will be able to have both Vietnamese and foreign nationality. In other cases, citizens only have one Vietnamese nationality.

How to name a child with dual nationality?

Even though the child has dual nationality but one of the nationalities is Vietnamese nationality, when registering the birth in Vietnamese territory, the name of your child with dual nationality must comply with the provisions of Vietnamese law.

Accordingly, even if you have dual nationality, whenName your child with dual nationality It is also necessary to note the following regulations:

- The given name does not infringe on the rights and interests of others. As prescribed at Clause 3, Article 26 of the 2015 Civil Code, naming is restricted when it violates legal rights and interests or violates basic principles of civil law. However, any name is considered restricted when it infringes on the legitimate rights and interests of others.

- Name must be in Vietnamese: This regulation is stated at Clause 3, Article 26 of the 2015 Civil Code. Therefore, even though the child has dual nationality, when the child has Vietnamese nationality, it must be named according to this regulation and the child's name must have a Vietnamese name.

In addition, in case of applying for Vietnamese nationality, you must also have a Vietnamese name (Clause 4, Article 19 of the Law on Vietnamese Nationality).

- Do not name with numbers, with a character that is not a letter, do not give names that are too long or difficult to use. This content is stated at Clause 3, Article 26 of the 2015 Civil Code and Clause 1, Article 6 of Circular No. 04/2020/TT-BTP.

Accordingly, when naming a child, it must not be named in numbers, characters, not letters, must not be too long, difficult to use, and especially must be in accordance with the law, preserving national identity and customs. fine cultural traditions of Vietnam.