Former Brazilian Huynh Kesley obtained Vietnamese citizenship to play for Vietnam’s national team

Certain foreigners and overseas Vietnamese can apply for dual citizenship under the amended Vietnamese Nationality Law that takes effect tomorrow.

Other conditions include having Vietnamese parents or children; having contributed to the country’s development or defense; or those whose citizenship would benefit the country.

These categories of foreigners would be exempt from some Vietnamese citizenship criteria, such as being able to speak Vietnamese, residing in the country for at least five years, and being able to show a stable income in Vietnam.

Another change in the law states all foreigners being granted Vietnamese citizenship must adopt a Vietnamese name.

The amended law also permits people of unidentified nationality to apply for Vietnamese citizenship if they have resided permanently in the country for 20 years or more before July 1 this year, and have not violated Vietnamese laws.

The current law which came into force in 1998 states that foreigners or overseas Vietnamese would have to forgo their foreign citizenship before being granted citizenship in Vietnam.

Regaining Vietnamese citizenship

Overseas Vietnamese and those of previous Vietnamese nationality will also be allowed to hold dual citizenship under the amended law.

Earlier, citizens automatically lost their Vietnamese citizenship once they received nationality in another country. The amended law states overseas Vietnamese whose nationalities have not yet been revoked or lost would be deemed to be Vietnamese citizens.

To have their Vietnamese nationality officially recognized, they need to register with Vietnamese representative offices abroad within five years from July 1 this year.

Those who denounced their citizen or had it stripped were also eligible for Vietnamese citizenry under the same criteria as foreigners.

Around three million Vietnamese now live abroad, mostly in the US, Europe, Canada and Australia.

Other laws that will take effect tomorrow include the revised Road Traffic Law, Health Insurance Law, Civil Verdicts Enforcement Law, Biodiversity Law and High-Tech Law.

Extended health insurance

The Health Insurance Law that takes effect tomorrow will expand policyholder categories to include drug addicts and people with congenital defects who were previously excluded.

The new law aims to ease the load on provincial and central hospitals by assigning people to district and communal hospitals, medical centers and private Vietnamese clinics for their initial examination. The Ministry of Health would decide cases when policyholders can seek their first examination at provincial and central hospitals.

Every Vietnamese child under six years old will be covered totally under the new health insurance law, instead of being granted free health examination cards.

Under the draft decree for the new law, the Ministry of Health and Vietnam Health Insurance proposed to increase the health insurance fee from 3 percent to 4.5 percent of employees’ basic monthly salary. Last month, the basic monthly salary in Vietnam increased from VND540,000 (US$30.30) to VND650,000 ($36.50).

The Ministry of Health reported 39 million health insurance policyholders nationwide, Sai Gon Giai Phong newspaper reported Monday.

Of the total, insurance cards have been issued to 15.8 million poor, who can use the services of more than 1,900 public and private hospitals under the scheme that began 17 years ago.

Ly Ngoc Kinh, head of the Department of Health Examination and Treatment Management under the Health Ministry, last week said the ministry is preparing a campaign to attract more policyholders by improving health services through better care, simpler procedures and improved use of medicines and equipment.

The improvements will be made at 10 major hospitals for a six-month trial before being carried out nationwide.

Reported by An Nguyen – Minh Duc