110 Jaghai Hanna first became aware that she might be stateless when she applied for a job at the Dutch Police Department in early 2012. Based on her experiences and skills she was selected from a pool of applicants to fill the vacancy but, unfortunately, to her dismay, she was informed that she could not be hired because she did not possess Dutch nationality, one of the key prerequisites for the position. After hearing this she went to the municipality of the city where she lives to apply for naturalisation. The municipal officials told Hanna that she had to give up her Vietnamese nationality in order to be eligible for a Dutch nationality. According to the Vietnamese Law on Nationality, Hanna should have acquired Vietnamese nationality at birth because ‘a child born inside or outside the Vietnamese territory whose parents, at the time of his/her birth, are both Vietnamese citizens has Vietnamese nationality.’5 The Dutch authorities therefore assumed that Hanna had Vietnamese nationality because both her parents did. However, it came as a surprise to her that she was not aware of ever having acquired Vietnamese nationality. In order to resolve her situation, Hanna went to the Embassy of the Republic of Viet Nam in The Hague. She explained what had happened at the municipality and made inquiries about her nationality. The Embassy told her that she was not Vietnamese and could not acquire Vietnamese nationality by any means simply because she was not born in Viet Nam. The fact that Hanna should automatically have acquired Vietnamese citizenship under the law, through her parents, who both possessed Vietnamese nationality at the time of her birth, was not taken into consideration by the Vietnamese Embassy. Hanna and her parents have since contacted the Vietnamese Embassy in The Hague again, as well as the Dutch Embassy in Viet Nam, several times to explain her situation. Thus far, to no avail. Hanna’s attempts to confirm or acquire Vietnamese nationality through consular procedures resulted in a letter in which the Vietnamese Embassy stated that her claim to be recognized as a Vietnamese national was not evidenced sufficiently by documentary proof, despite the fact that she had shown the Embassy officials her parent’s Vietnamese passports and her own birth certificate. These are documents that can prove one’s Vietnamese nationality pursuant to the Vietnamese Nationality Law.6 At this moment in time then, regardless of what the Vietnamese nationality law provides, Hanna is not considered as a national by Viet Nam, nor by any other country. She is stateless. 5 Law on Vietnamese nationality (13 November 2008) No 24/2008/QH12, art 14(1) in conjunction with art 15. 6 Ibid, art 11(1). tilburg law review 19 (2014) 108-116