House ownership by overseas Vietnamese

Question:

I am a Vietnamese-American, I have not renounced my Vietnamese nationality. Currently, I no longer possess my birth certificate, but my brother still has the family declaration which includes my name, date of birth, and my old ID card number. I got married in Vietnam, and my wife wants to transfer a house to my name. Do I have the right to have the property title in Vietnam?

Answer:

1. "Overseas Vietnamese" means Vietnamese nationals who are residing and working permanently in foreign countries (clause 3 Article 3 of the Decree 138/2006/NĐ-CP).

Therefore, since you have been living long-term in the United States and have not renounced your Vietnamese national, you are considered an overseas Vietnamese American (Vietnamese-American).

2. The conditions for recognizing ownership rights to residential property in Vietnam for overseas Vietnamese

-           Overseas Vietnamese are the entities eligible for the homeownership in Vietnam (Article 7 of the Law on Housing 2014)

-           Pursuant to Article 186 of the Land Law 2013: “Overseas Vietnamese who are entitled to own houses in accordance with the housing law are entitled to own houses associated with residential land use rights in Vietnam”.

-           However, you must be permitted to enter Vietnam in order to be recognized for ownership rights to residential property in Vietnam. (clause 1 Article 8 of the Land Law 2014).

         If having a Vietnamese passport, it must still be valid and stamped with the immigration entry seal by the Vietnamese immigration authorities in your passport upon entry into Vietnam.

         If having a foreign passport, it must still be valid and stamped with the immigration entry seal by the Vietnamese immigration authorities in your passport. Additionally, you must provide documentation proving your Vietnamese nationality or confirmation of being of Vietnamese origin. This documentation can be issued by the Department of Justice of provinces level, centrally-run cities, Vietnamese representative offices abroad, or agencies responsible for Vietnamese nationals abroad, or other documents as stipulated by Vietnamese law (for procedures for issuing Confirmation of Vietnamese Origin, refer to Article 33 of Decree 16/2020/NĐ-CP and Decision 1217/QĐ-BTP 2020 of the Ministry of Justice).

-           Having legitimate housing through commercial housing purchase, lease purchase with enterprises or cooperatives conducting real estate trading (hereinafter referred to as real estate enterprise); agreements on housing purchase, gifting, exchange, inheritance with households or individuals; agreements on residential land transfer in the project on commercial housing construction which is permitted to divide the piece of land into smaller lots/plots for sales as prescribed (point b clause 2 Article 8 of the Law on Housing 2014)

Therefore, as an overseas Vietnamese residing abroad, you belong to the entities eligible to own residential property attached to land in Vietnam. If you meet the aforementioned conditions, you are entitled to be granted a Certificate of land use right, homeownership and property on land in Vietnam.

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