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Pathway

Vietnamese Citizenship Restoration

Vietnam Citizenship
Pathway overview

At a glance

Former Vietnamese citizens can apply to restore citizenship without an additional family, investment, or return-to-Vietnam reason. You must prove your former status and its loss, and approval remains a Presidential decision.

Who can apply
People who personally held and lost Vietnamese citizenship
Extra reason
No separate return, family, or investment ground required since July 1, 2025
After revocation
At least five years must pass before restoration can be considered

Summary

Since July 1, 2025, a former Vietnamese citizen does not need a separate family, investment, or return-to-Vietnam reason to request restoration. The applicant must still establish the former citizenship and loss. Restoration, and any permission to retain foreign citizenship, require the President's approval.

Could this pathway work for you?

Eligibility

Prove both your former Vietnamese citizenship and how it ended. If citizenship was revoked, at least five years must have passed before restoration can be considered.

You must meet identity, civil-status, and background checks, and restoration must not harm Vietnam’s national interests.

You normally resume your former Vietnamese name. If also requesting permission to keep another citizenship, you may choose a combined Vietnamese and foreign name.

To retain foreign citizenship, you need the President’s permission, compatibility with the other country’s law, and compliance with Vietnam’s safeguards against misuse of foreign nationality.

Restoring former Vietnamese citizenship
  1. Confirm former citizenship and how it ended Distinguish actual loss from missing documents and check any revocation waiting period.
  2. Prepare records and any retention request Gather current personal and background evidence and address other citizenship.
  3. Apply through the responsible authority Use the provincial justice department or Vietnamese mission for your place of residence.

Ancestry is not enough: the applicant must personally have held and lost citizenship.

What This Route Allows

A favorable Presidential decision restores Vietnamese citizenship. If retention of foreign citizenship is also approved, you can hold both subject to each country’s laws.

What This Route Is Not

Vietnamese ancestry alone does not prove that you personally held citizenship. If you never lost it, you may need confirmation of existing citizenship instead.

An application does not guarantee restoration or permission to keep another nationality.

Next Steps

  1. Obtain proof of former citizenship and the decision or legal basis for its loss. Check the five-year rule if citizenship was revoked.
  2. Gather identity, name-history, and criminal-record documents using the current official checklist.
  3. Decide whether to request retention of foreign citizenship and prepare the required supporting evidence.
  4. Apply through the provincial Department of Justice if living in Vietnam, or a Vietnamese mission if living abroad.

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Other routes in Vietnam.

Sources