only. 155 Article 7 of the Decree provided that Vietnamese nationals will lose their nationality if: they have been naturalized in foreign countries; they decline to resign from positions they have held overseas even though they have been warned by the Government; or they have committed acts infringing upon the independence and the democratic republican regime of Vietnam. A’s father is a Vietnamese national, and according to the 1945 Decree, A had acquired Vietnamese nationality at the time of birth unless the father had lost his Vietnamese nationality by the time A was born. It is not necessarily clear whether the fact that persons, including A’s father, which had fled Vietnam after the socialist regime’s takeover of the area of origin was considered to fall within the ground for nationality loss under 1945 Nationality Law, i.e., that they “committed acts infringing upon the independence and the democratic republican regime of Vietnam,” and whether the Vietnamese authorities had implemented the law to have these refugees lose their nationality. (2) Responses of Vietnamese embassy Nevertheless, at the age of 15, A travelled to Vietnam as a non-national by obtaining a visa through a visa application agency in order to visit relatives with family members, with the visa issued on the re-entry permit which was issued by the Japanese government (and which could be used in lieu of a passport).156 Furthermore, at the age of 17, A again visited Vietnam as a foreigner by obtaining a visa with which A was able to stay for three months for language study purposes. In the 1990s, some Vietnamese refugees and children wished to return even temporarily to Vietnam, with the understanding that the circumstances had changed in the country of origin. However, even if they went to the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan and claimed to be nationals, they could not have passports issued. All they could obtain were visas, and there were actual cases of persons who returned with such visas. According to A, in the 2000s when A traveled to Vietnam, it was common knowledge within the Vietnamese community in Japan that refugees could not have their children registered at the embassy and that neither the parent nor the child could obtain a passport.157 As for the reasons for not registering birth or not issuing a passport, there was an understanding that some Vietnamese refugees in Japan had been told that it was “because there were no documents to prove Vietnamese nationality (of the parents).” Therefore, A gave up on the birth registration and passport without ever visiting the 155 Nguyen Thi Ngoc Lam, “A History of Vietnam’s Citizenship Laws” (1 July 2009), at http://vietnamlawmagazine.vn/a-history-of-vietnams-citizenship-laws-4519.html. 156 Based on a hearing from A, on 17 September 2016. A’s re-entry permit (see Chapter 1, Section 1, Sub-section 1(2) of this report) with a Vietnamese visa attached was verified. 157 Ibid. 72