Acquisition of nationality through naturalization The Operational Plan provided solutions to all of these obstacles to naturalization. Regarding the requirement to prove renunciation of foreign nationality, the Vietnamese Government initiated bilateral discussions with its Cambodian counterpart to seek certification that all those in this group were not considered Cambodian nationals.68 The Cambodian Government responded that it had no records of these people and confirmed it did not consider them to be Cambodian nationals. The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs concluded that the entire Cambodian refugee population remaining in Viet Nam was stateless and waived the requirement for a certificate of renunciation of foreign nationality. With respect to the other naturalization requirements, the Vietnamese Government agreed to accept sworn statements attesting to applicants’ parentage and date and place of birth, rather than demanding the submission of birth certificates. It waived fees for individuals from this group and permitted elderly individuals to pass a simple verbal interview in spoken Vietnamese to satisfy the language requirement. In addition, the Central Government agreed to work with local and district officials in Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong and Binh Phuoc provinces to review individual applicants’ circumstances related to their curriculum vitae, judicial background certificate, certificate of continuous residence in Viet Nam and other information on domicile, occupation and income. Between 2008 and 2009, inter-ministerial working groups were established at the local level in Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong and Binh Phuoc provinces to implement the Operational Plan to naturalize the former Cambodian refugees. The Government decided to concentrate first on naturalizing the approximately 2,000 people still living in camps in the two provinces and Ho Chi Minh City. The three local working groups developed action plans for each province/city that included a census to verify the names of the individuals living in the former UNHCR camps. They also established mobile teams to conduct an information campaign and distribute and collect naturalization applications. In July 2010, the Vietnamese Government held the first naturalization ceremony, granting Vietnamese citizenship to 287 former Cambodian refugees who continued to reside in the former UNHCR refugee camp in Ho Chi Minh City.69 An additional 2,000 68 This was pursued during the annual meeting between the foreign ministries of Cambodia and Viet Nam in 2007, where the Vietnamese Government inquired about the Cambodian Government’s position vis-à-vis the Cambodian refugee population in Viet Nam. 69 See UNHCR, Viet Nam ends stateless limbo for 2,300 former Cambodians, 19 July 2010, available at: http://www.unhcr. org/4c447a796.html. 60 U N H C R > G P P A C T I O N 1 : R E S O LV I N G E X I S T I N G M A J O R S I T U AT I O N S O F S TAT E L E S S N E S S