Degrees of Statelessness of returned marriage migrants, even though the issue of stateless children is recognised in its laws. The 1988 Nationality Law, 137 1998 Law on Vietnamese Nationality 138 and 2008 Nationality Law (the current law) all deal with the question of the nationality of a child born on Vietnamese territory to stateless parents or a child born to a Vietnamese mother and a stateless father (irrespective of place of birth), as well as the question of nationality in the case of a child who is found abandoned in Vietnam. However, these laws do not address the current situation of the children of returned marriage migrants. When the 2008 Nationality Law was amended, it did not address this issue, even though media reports prior to the enactment of the 2008 Nationality Law referred to the ‘“mixed-blood” generation … born of international marriages, as being a problem for the future of Vietnam’. 139 For example, one report stated: For children born from Taiwan–Vietnamese marriages (and currently living in some southern provinces), the issue of citizenship is still in question. These children came to Vietnam with their divorced mothers or were sent to Vietnam and placed in the case of their grandparents. Issues regarding birth certificates, household registrations, education, and health care are still unresolved. 140 V CONCLUSIONS In our case study of the children of returned marriage migrants in the Can Tho region, we have identified that while these children are ethnically ‘half Vietnamese’, and presumably hold their foreign father’s nationality in law, their legal status is often precarious as they often lack the appropriate ho khau or household registration, which, we have argued, under the Vietnamese legal system, amounts to ‘de facto nationality’. This lack of, or difficulty in accessing, permanent household registration, means that many of the children are de facto stateless, in the sense of lacking an effective nationality. The precariousness extends also to the children who claim to have Vietnamese nationality, if it has been obtained through fraudulent means (which has occurred in many cases). We argue that de facto statelessness needs to be addressed in the same way as de jure statelessness, namely through a procedural approach. In the case of Vietnam, this would involve removing administrative obstacles to permanent household registration (and coincidentally the need to resort to fraudulent practices and\or to rely on discretionary decision-making). This reform would involve issuing identity documentation and establishing procedures to determine the nationality status of the child, including assistance to obtain birth certificates from the country of birth. At the legal and policy level, there are gaps in the laws and practices which we have identified. This includes the lack of provision in the 2008 Nationality Law which specifically addresses the situation of children of returned marriage migrants, and which provides for a mother to unilaterally register her child as a Vietnamese citizen as outlined above in our discussion of art 16(2). As a 137 138 139 140 Law on Vietnamese Nationality (No 03/1988, 1988) (Vietnam). Law on Vietnamese Nationality (No 07/1998/QH10, 1998) (Vietnam). Bélanger, Hong and Linh (n 114) 96. ibid 97 citing N H K, ‘90% dâu Việt ở Đài Loan chưa được nhập quốc tịch” [90% of Vietnamese Brides in Taiwan Have Not Been Granted Taiwanese Citizenship] Dân Trí (online, 29 May 2005) <http://dantri.com.vn/xa-hoi/90-dau-viet-o-dai-loan-chua-duoc-nhapquoc-tich-57474.htm>. 93