Property Rights for Vietnamese Overseas

Vietnamese overseas who are currently residing abroad have property rights such as house ownership and land use rights in Vietnam. However, how this right has been implemented in a reality.

Property rights

According to the laws of Vietnam[1], property rights are rights which can be valued in money, including property rights to subjects of intellectual property rights, right to use land and other property rights.

Vietnamese heritage living overseas

The Law on Vietnamese Nationality stipulates that “Persons of Vietnamese origin residing abroad are Vietnamese people who used to have Vietnamese nationality which had been determined at the time of their birth on the principle of bloodline and their offspring and grandchildren are permanently residing in foreign countries”.

Accordingly, although there is no specific definition, it can be understood that a person of Vietnamese origin/heritage is a person who has ever had Vietnamese nationality and whose Vietnamese nationality at birth is determined according to the principle of bloodline or a person whose father or mother, paternal grandfather or grandmother, maternal grandfather or grandmother used to have Vietnamese nationality by blood.

Besides, people with Vietnamese heritage residing abroad are also considered as “Vietnamese heritage or origin” according to the provisions of the law on nationality[2].

In terms of procedures, the person who wants to be certified as a person of Vietnamese origin needs to apply for a certificate called a “Certificate of Vietnamese origin”. This certification will be issued by the Department of Justice or the representative agency, where the person resides at the time of application submission, or the State Committee on Overseas Vietnamese of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Eligibility for land use right and house ownership right

In general, people of Vietnamese origin have almost no restrictions on their property rights in Vietnam. However, there are some property rights will be restricted compared to Vietnamese citizens.

In particular, the most typical is land use rights and house ownership, Vietnamese heritage must meet certain conditions to receive transfer of land use rights and ownership of houses.

The following are the conditions for Vietnamese origin to receive the transfer of land use rights and ownership of houses:

1. Eligibility for land use rights[3]: must be eligible to own houses in Vietnam in accordance with the Law on housing. Vietnamese origin will receive the transfer of residential land use rights in the form of purchase, lease purchase, inheritance or receive the gift of housing attached to residential land use rights or receiving land use rights in housing development projects.
2. Eligibility for house ownership right [4]:

• must be allowed to enter Vietnam;

• have papers proving that they are allowed to own houses as prescribed in Article 5 of Decree No. 99/2015/ND-CP, including: A valid foreign passport bearing the entry verification stamp of the Vietnamese immigration authority on the passport and enclosed with documents proving that the Vietnamese nationality remains or a document certifying that the person is of Vietnamese origin or other papers as prescribed by Vietnamese law; and

• have lawful houses through the form of purchase, lease-purchase of commercial houses of real estate enterprises or cooperatives; buy, receive as a gift, exchange, or inherit houses of households and individuals; receiving transfer of residential land use rights in commercial housing construction investment projects which is permitted to divide the piece of land into smaller lots/plots for sales and self-organize the construction as prescribed.

[1] Article 115 of the Civil Code 2015

[3] Article 169.1 of Land law 2013