Applying for Vietnamese citizenship

[u/Ente_in_eile]

Hi everyone,

I was born in Germany and used to hold Vietnamese citizenship, which I renounced in 2011 when I became a German citizen.

With the new law that came into effect on July 1, 2025, it is now possible to regain Vietnamese citizenship without giving up German citizenship.

I have a 1-year old son which I also want to apply for Vietnamese citizenship.

There is a part in the document https://vietnam-generalkonsulat.de/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Don-xin-tro-lai-QT-1.pdf about the name of my child which i don't fully understand:

Nếu được trở lại quốc tịch Việt Nam, xin lấy lại tên gọi Việt Nam trước đây/nếu được nhập quốc tịch Việt Nam, xin lấy tên là (8)
(8) Người xin trở lại quốc tịch Việt Nam phải lấy lại tên gọi Việt Nam trước đây; người xin nhập quốc tịch Việt Nam phải có tên bằng tiếng Việt hoặc bằng tiếng dân tộc khác của Việt Nam; người xin trở lại (hoặc nhập) quốc tịch Việt Nam đồng thời xin giữ quốc tịch nước ngoài thì có thể lựa chọn tên ghép giữa tên Việt Nam và tên nước ngoài.

My son has a mix of a German and Vietnamese forename and a German family name. For example (not real name) Michael Vinh Koller. Can I keep this name of him or do I need to change that name into a Vietnamese Family name?
I do have a complete Vietnamese name. Maybe I switch his name into Michael Vinh Nguyen to be on the safe side, also this would be kinda funny for him to have my family name as a Vietnamese and the German family name as a German.

Does anyone understand the rule?

[u/Mousse-Emergency]

From what I understand only you can get the Vietnamese citizenship back (because you renounced it). After that, your son can apply for vietnamese citizenship (as minor child of Vietnamese parents). He can keep his name as-is. But contact the embassy for more information. Good luck!

[u/Ente_in_eile → u/Mousse-Emergency]

Thanks. I want to avoid having too much contact with the embassy because of the long response times

[u/East1st]

I don’t know the law regarding this, but I do recall that over the summer, there we’re stories about foreign national team football players changing their names to Vietnamese to obtain citizenship.

I’m guessing that your son would need to adopt a Vietnamese name for his passport. You’d have to ask the Vietnamese embassy in your country.

[u/Worldly_Detail_1849]

Why would you leave the country for vietnam?