Vietnamese Citizenship by descent advice

chicagoan77 wrote:

Just got a quote from Ken Duong.  They charge $1500 for only the Vietnam passport, $500 extra for faster 3 week processing or wait 6-8 months.  $750 paid upfront and $750 upon receiving passport.  If you want full citizenship which includes National ID and family book, add $1500.  I'm not sure how this quote would work for my scenario which would be my father getting citizenship first, him sponsoring me and then my wife last.   

If anyone else has any other rates please let me know.  Thanks!  Also translation and notary of documents are paid by client.

colinoscapee wrote:

Are you saying 1500 usd to just apply and receive a passport. I looked it up for my wife in Australia and the total cost was 100 aud. Here in Viet Nam a passport costs around 25 usd.

Got a feeling dodgy Ken is on a get rich quick program.

- Circular 219/2016/TT-BTC indicates that the fee for a new passport in 2021 is 200k, which is $8.60 in today's rate. 

- From the same circular: Processing time for a new passport shall not exceed 5 working days from the date of receipt when documents are submitted at Immigration Departments in Hanoi or Saigon.  For documents submitted in other cities, processing time shall not exceed 8 working days.

- National ID with electronic chip is issued province by province; one cannot rush the process.  Circular 07/2016/TT-BCA indicates that the card fee for people who regain Vietnamese nationality is 35k before July 1 and 70k after July 1.  That's $1.50 and $3.00 respectively.

- To be qualified for a new family book, Clause 1, Article 20 of the Law on Residence stipulates that a person must reside in a registered permanent residence for at least one year if the residence is in a city directly under the Central Government, or two years if the permanent residence is in a city under a Central District.  As such, I don't know how Ken Duong could promise you a family book when you've yet to fulfill the residency requirement. 

I don't know the fee to register in a family book in all cities because it's regulated by the People's Council of each province or city.  In Saigon, the fee is 10k per registration and 15k for the issuance of a new household registration book.  That's $1.50 in total.

If you didn't read my post about Ken Duong, let's just say he graduated from a dodgy law school, and his self-declared Doctor of Law is a degree that such school could never ever be able to grant to its students.  Even before knowing the discrepancy between the real fees and what he charges, would you feel safe dealing with such person?

Ciambella wrote:

chicagoan77 wrote:

Just got a quote from Ken Duong.  They charge $1500 for only the Vietnam passport, $500 extra for faster 3 week processing or wait 6-8 months.  $750 paid upfront and $750 upon receiving passport.  If you want full citizenship which includes National ID and family book, add $1500.  I'm not sure how this quote would work for my scenario which would be my father getting citizenship first, him sponsoring me and then my wife last.   

If anyone else has any other rates please let me know.  Thanks!  Also translation and notary of documents are paid by client.

colinoscapee wrote:

Are you saying 1500 usd to just apply and receive a passport. I looked it up for my wife in Australia and the total cost was 100 aud. Here in Viet Nam a passport costs around 25 usd.

Got a feeling dodgy Ken is on a get rich quick program.

- Circular 219/2016/TT-BTC indicates that the fee for a new passport in 2021 is 200k, which is $8.60 in today's rate. 

- From the same circular: Processing time for a new passport shall not exceed 5 working days from the date of receipt when documents are submitted at Immigration Departments in Hanoi or Saigon.  For documents submitted in other cities, processing time shall not exceed 8 working days.

- National ID with electronic chip is issued province by province; one cannot rush the process.  Circular 07/2016/TT-BCA indicates that the card fee for people who regain Vietnamese nationality is 35k before July 1 and 70k after July 1.  That's $1.50 and $3.00 respectively.

- To be qualified for a new family book, Clause 1, Article 20 of the Law on Residence stipulates that a person must reside in a registered permanent residence for at least one year if the residence is in a city directly under the Central Government, or two years if the permanent residence is in a city under a Central District.  As such, I don't know how Ken Duong could promise you a family book when you've yet to fulfill the residency requirement. 

I don't know the fee to register in a family book in all cities because it's regulated by the People's Council of each province or city.  In Saigon, the fee is 10k per registration and 15k for the issuance of a new household registration book.  That's $1.50 in total.

If you didn't read my post about Ken Duong, let's just say he graduated from a dodgy law school, and his self-declared Doctor of Law is a degree that such school could never ever be able to grant to its students.  Even before knowing the discrepancy between the real fees and what he charges, would you feel safe dealing with such person?

Thank you @Ciambella!  One niche area that Ken or any local lawyer has is the ability to get my father a passport (he is 70 years old living in the US) without him having to fly to Vietnam.  Ken said in one of his videos that you can be added to someone else's family book, for example, my uncle who lives in Vietnam or any other of my relatives.  If anyone knows any trustworthy agency or lawyer (haha!) that can get my dad a Vietnam passport please let me know. 

When you think about it all that needs to be done is to hunt down his birth cert and then apply for his passport.  Once he gets it, I can easily apply for mine and my wife's whenever I move to Vietnam this year instead of being charged $3500 per person (passport, expedited processing, National ID, family book).  Once I get my passport, am I able to apply on my own for National ID and family book (I can join one of my relatives) or do I need to involve my dad for those?  Thanks everyone, great community!  I can't believe for 3 people Ken wants $10,500!!

chicagoan77 wrote:

Thank you @Ciambella!  One niche area that Ken or any local lawyer has is the ability to get my father a passport (he is 70 years old living in the US) without him having to fly to Vietnam.

Does he still have Vietnamese nationality?  Does he have any documents (aside from the lost birth certificate) proving that he was a Vietnamese citizen -- thẻ căn cước issued before '75, work ID or documents, học bạ, văn bằng, etc.?

If he has any of those documents, he can reclaim Vietnamese nationality without being in Vietnam.  Here's what the government says about that issue:

Read #2: Quốc tịch

I always translate everything to English before posting on the forum, but as your father is 70, I'm sure he doesn't have any problem reading Vietnamese as the younger generation does.

From that Q&A, you can see that he cannot have a passport until after he reclaims his nationality.  Once that's done, he can apply for passport at the Vietnamese Embassy in the States; there's no reason for him to fly to Vietnam at all. 

I can understand the desire to pay someone to do the running around so I wouldn't have to, but even if I have money to burn, I wouldn't pay $10,500 when I can do that in country for less than $50.  That kind of money is more than enough to pay for 3 very comfortable RT seats in business class from the States to here.

chicagoan77 wrote:

Once I get my passport, am I able to apply on my own for National ID and family book (I can join one of my relatives) or do I need to involve my dad for those?

If you have your passport, you're already a Vietnamese citizen, so no, you don't need to involve your dad.

Ciambella wrote:

chicagoan77 wrote:

Thank you @Ciambella!  One niche area that Ken or any local lawyer has is the ability to get my father a passport (he is 70 years old living in the US) without him having to fly to Vietnam.

Does he still have Vietnamese nationality?  Does he have any documents (aside from the lost birth certificate) proving that he was a Vietnamese citizen -- thẻ căn cước issued before '75, work ID or documents, học bạ, văn bằng, etc.?

If he has any of those documents, he can reclaim for Vietnamese nationality without being in Vietnam.  Here's what the government says about that issue:

Read #2: Quốc tịch

I always translate everything to English before posting on the forum, but as your father is 70, I'm sure he doesn't have any problem reading Vietnamese as the younger generation does.

From that Q&A, you can see that he cannot have a passport until after he reclaims his nationality.  Once that's done, he can apply for passport at the Vietnamese Embassy in the States; there's no reason for him to fly to Vietnam at all. 

I can understand the desire to pay someone to do the running around so I wouldn't have to, but even if I have money to burn, I wouldn't pay $10,500 when I can do that in country for less than $50.  That kind of money is more than enough to pay for 3 very comfortable RT seats in business class from the States to here.

Thank you @Ciambella!  I will find out what documents my dad currently has, whenever quarantine upon arrival ends and I'm in Vietnam, I'll look for any of his missing documents and ship it back to him.  As @THIGV mentioned before, will work with the embassy in San Francisco as they are super friendly.  Then will work on mine in country and let everyone know how I do compared to Ken's prices haha!!

The only difference is that if you do land yourself in jail, you will get a visit from the Australian consulate. He/she will tell you (Sorry, we can not help you since you broke the law, you are on your own now, good luck and good bye)

@THIGV

interesting comment here, @THIGV

Firstly what advantages of having a vn citizenship other than not having to have visa to enter vn. ?

secondly, to @Thigv point if you enter vn via vn passport you might loose your resident country consular assistance should that arise.

Firstly what advantages of having a vn citizenship other than not having to have visa to enter vn. ? -@brianAFSER73

Property rights are #1 on many people's lists.

The ability to purchase or build a home anywhere that's normally only approved for citizens.

Along with that, the ability to develop that property into a source of income.

    Firstly what advantages of having a vn citizenship other than not having to have visa to enter vn. ? -@brianAFSER73

Property rights are #1 on many people's lists.The ability to purchase or build a home anywhere that's normally only approved for citizens. Along with that, the ability to develop that property into a source of income.        -@OceanBeach92107

Just a couple more off the top of my head...

Visa-free travel to SEA countries.

Access to public medical facilities.

Access to islands/regions where foreigners are not permitted.

Reduced cost for services where foreigner/Vietnamese prices apply.

Vehicle registration/license-plate, making ownership and resale much simpler.

I'm sure I'll think of more.

VN citizenship does carry certain restrictions/obligations. People considering citizenship would do well to read post #17, here, and post #10, here.