Official Policy of Boat Refugees in the 70s and 80s

From: Ngo, T.T.L. (Lam) <t.t.l.ngo@library.leidenuniv.nl>
Sent: Thursday, April 6, 2023 3:15 AM
To: Ngo Thanh Nhan <ngo.thanh.nhan@temple.edu>; Dan <dansubvert@gmail.com>; Ta-Moore, Hong D <hdta@loc.gov>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>; j.kleinen@uva.nl <John Kleinen>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] [External] Re: What was the official policy of the Vietnamese government regarding the nationality of Vietnamese boat refugees in the 70s and 80s?

 

Thank you so much for your input. Especially the Report on Citizenship Law of Vietnam could be very interesting for this foundation.

Also, many thanks to John Kleinen for the useful information from the Dutch Immigration Service.

Best,

Lam Ngo


From: Nhu Miller <trantnhu@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, April 3, 2023 9:13 PM
To: Ngo, T.T.L. (Lam) <t.t.l.ngo@library.leidenuniv.nl>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] What was the official policy of the Vietnamese government regarding the nationality of Vietnamese boat refugees in the 70s and 80s?

 

As a secondary question does anyone knows why it was difficult

if not impossible for Vietnamese to leave the country from 1950 until

fairly recently.  I know the wars were a reason, lack of foreign currency

and authoritarianism, but what were the conditions allowing a person to 

leave in those days?

 

T.T.Nhu


From: Ngo Thanh Nhan <ngo.thanh.nhan@temple.edu>
Sent: Monday, April 3, 2023 1:29 PM
To: Dan <dansubvert@gmail.com>; Ta-Moore, Hong D <hdta@loc.gov>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] [External] Re: What was the official policy of the Vietnamese government regarding the nationality of Vietnamese boat refugees in the 70s and 80s?

 

Dear all,

 

Apology for coming late to this thread. 

 

The Trump administration tried to force Vietnam to accept Vietnamese Americans who came to the US before 1995.  The 2008 agreement on repatriation of Vietnamese did not have this clause which says the US would not deport Vietnamese Americans who came before 1995.

 

If the Vietnamese government accepts the Vietnamese refugees of 1970's and 1980's as its nationals, then there are about 8,000 Vietnamese in the US (in the ICE custody) may be deported to Vietnam.

 

If one defines nationality as citizenship, and you look at the Consular page and the application for a Vietnamese passport, Vietnam accepts Vietnamese overseas as its citizen(s) who have one of their parents a Vietnamese citizen (proven by a birth certificate or something equal), if their current residence country accepts dual citizenship (like the US).

 

As I understand, nationality is not simply citizenship (with or without a passport).

 

Best,
Nhan


From: Dan <dansubvert@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, April 3, 2023 11:34 AM
To: Ta-Moore, Hong D <hdta@loc.gov>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] What was the official policy of the Vietnamese government regarding the nationality of Vietnamese boat refugees in the 70s and 80s?

 

Here's an European University Institute 2017 Report on Citizenship Law: Vietnam, that gives details on nationality laws enacted in 1988 and later.

 

https://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/47966/GLOBALCIT_CR_2017_13.pdf

 

Daniel C. Tsang

Distinguished Librarian Emeritus

University of California, Irvine

dtsang@uci.edu 

From: Ngo, T.T.L. (Lam) <t.t.l.ngo@library.leidenuniv.nl>
Sent: Monday, April 3, 2023 7:00 AM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: [Vsg] What was the official policy of the Vietnamese government regarding the nationality of Vietnamese boat refugees in the 70s and 80s?

 

Dear colleagues,

 

The Dutch&Detained Foundation asks me for help in this matter.

I hope some of you can answer the below questions:

 

What was the official policy of the Vietnamese government regarding the nationality of Vietnamese boat refugees in the 70s and 80s?

Did they automatically lose their nationality as soon as they left the country?

Are there any official documents or government statements on this issue? 


It would be very appreciated if we could give them more legal information to help them assisting some detainees in Vietnam. I will forward your information to them. If you want to send your information directly to Dutch&Detained Foundation, I can give you the email address of the lawyer who asks me for help.

 

Kind regards,

Lam Ngo

 



Stichting Dutch&Detained

WG-plein 112

1054 SC Amsterdam

The Netherlands

www.DutchDetained.com