DEGREES OF STATELESSNESS: CHILDREN OF RETURNED MARRIAGE MIGRANTS IN CAN THO, VIETNAM SUSAN KNEEBONE, BRANDAIS YORK AND SAYOMI ARIYAWANSA * In this article, we consider the issue of the status of children of international marriage migrants who are returned to Vietnam following a failed marriage in another country. We argue that many of these children can considered to be de facto stateless due to their lack of ‘effective nationality’ in Vietnam. While the children, ethnically, are ‘half Vietnamese’ their legal status is often precarious in Vietnam as many of them hold a foreign nationality. Although their situations vary, we argue that their cases fall on a spectrum of different degrees of statelessness. In many cases their lack of household registration — ho khau — has resulted in ‘ineffective nationality’, which we argue is de facto statelessness. In this article, we present findings from data collection undertaken between 2015–19 in Can Tho, Vietnam and suggest how law and policy could address the issue. We argue that our findings provide a useful case study for considering the importance of effective nationality, which we situate within the broader conceptual debate surrounding de facto statelessness. TABLE OF CONTENTS I II III IV V * Introduction............................................................................................................. 70 ‘De Facto’ Statelessness or ‘Ineffective Nationality’: A Conceptual Analysis ...... 72 Case Study: The Children of Returned Marriage Migrants from Can Tho............. 77 A The Context: Marriage Migration............................................................... 77 B Data Collection and Findings ..................................................................... 80 C The Four Categories of Children of Returned Marriage Migrants ............. 81 1 Children with Vietnamese Nationality ........................................... 81 2 Children with Foreign Nationality ................................................. 83 3 Children with Two Nationalities .................................................... 84 4 Children (from China) Who Are Undocumented ........................... 85 National Identity: Household Registration, Nationality Laws and Statelessness in Vietnam ......................................................................................... 86 A The Household Registration System as De Facto Nationality.................... 86 B Nationality and Identity .............................................................................. 88 C Recognition of De Jure Statelessness in Vietnam ...................................... 91 Conclusions............................................................................................................. 93 This paper is an outcome of an Australia Research Council (‘ARC’) funded Discovery Project entitled, ‘Development of a Legal Framework for Regulation of International Marriage Migration’ for which Professor Susan Kneebone is Chief Investigator and Brandais York and Sayomi Ariyawansa are Research Assistants employed under the grant. The paper is based upon a consultancy report dated December 2017 prepared by co-researcher Dr Tran, Thi Phung Ha from Can Tho University under the ARC grant, and additional data collected by the authors in November 2015 and May 2017, August 2018 and April 2019. We gratefully acknowledge the support of the ARC and the work of Dr Tran and her research team. Thanks also to Hoang, Thi Tue Phuong for her assistance with organising interviews in Ho Chi Minh City in November 2015, and of Hoang and Thomas Harré for research associated with this paper.