Articles 15 and 16 of the Vietnamese Nationality Law stipulate:

“Article 15. The nationality of children whose parents are Vietnamese citizens

A child born inside or outside the Vietnamese territory whose parents, at the time of his/her birth, are both Vietnamese citizens has Vietnamese nationality.”

“Article 16. The nationality of children either of whose parents is a Vietnamese citizen

1. A child born inside or outside the Vietnamese territory either of whose parents is a Vietnamese citizen and the other is a stateless person at the time of his/her birth or whose mother, at the time of his/her birth, is a Vietnamese citizen and whose father is unknown, has Vietnamese nationality.

2. A child either of whose parents is a Vietnamese citizen at the time of his/her birth and the other is a foreign national has the Vietnamese nationality if so agreed in writing by his/her parents at the time of birth registration. In case a child is born in the Vietnamese territory but his/her parents fail to reach an agreement on the selection of his/her nationality, the child has Vietnamese nationality.”

There are two common principles for countries to establish nationality for newly born children. That is, the child's nationality is determined according to the nationality of the father and mother (principle of descent) or a child born in the territory of a country has the nationality of that country (principle of place of birth). However, if a country only applies one of the above two principles, there will be a situation where many children will be born without the nationality of either country. Specifically, for the first principle, a child will be stateless when the child's father and mother are stateless, or when it is unknown who the child's parents are. For example: A newborn baby is abandoned and found in the territory of a country where the principle of descent applies. Therefore, if the nationality of the parents cannot be determined, the nationality of the child cannot be determined. Regarding the second principle, a child may also be stateless when the child's parents are citizens of the country applying the birthplace principle and the child was born in the territory of the country applying the principle. blood clot. Because at this time, the country of the child's parents does not accept the child's nationality for the reason that according to the law of this country, the child must be determined to have the nationality of the country of birth. But on the contrary, the country where the child was born applies the principle of blood descent and believes that the child must have the nationality of the country where the child's parents are citizens, so it does not accept the child as having the nationality of that country. me. To overcome the above situation, to ensure that all children are born with a nationality, many countries apply both the principles of bloodline and place of birth to determine the nationality of children born at birth. on its territory.