Acquisition of nationality through naturalization individual lose an acquired second nationality, but only if the individual has not had to renounce his or her Vietnamese nationality to acquire a new nationality. Furthermore, Article 13 of the 2008 Nationality Law provides that Vietnamese citizens abroad who had not yet lost their Vietnamese nationality pursuant to the prior nationality law can retain their Vietnamese nationality so long as they register with the overseas Vietnamese consular authorities by July 2014, with the deadline subsequently removed by legislative amendment in June 2014.72 According to both the 1998 and 2008 Nationality Laws, the act of marriage, divorce or annulment of unlawful marriage between a Vietnamese citizen and a foreigner does not alter the Vietnamese nationality of either the concerned individual or any minor children. As had been documented, however, several thousand Vietnamese women had been rendered stateless upon marriage to foreigners because they elected to renounce their Vietnamese nationality in the hopes of acquiring the foreign nationality of their spouses. Unfortunately, the 2008 nationality law maintains the possibility of loss of Vietnamese nationality through renunciation in its Article 27 without incorporating a safeguard to ensure that this would only be effective where the concerned individual has definitively acquired another nationality.73 Nevertheless, to address the situation of Vietnamese women who become stateless through marriage to a foreigner, Article 7(2) of the 2009 law makes clear that the “State adopts policies to create favorable conditions for persons who have lost their Vietnamese nationality to restore Vietnamese nationality.” Article 23(1) (f) of the law facilitates the restoration of Vietnamese nationality, particularly for those “having renounced Vietnamese nationality for acquisition of a foreign nationality but failing to obtain permission to acquire the foreign nationality.” A procedure for applying to restore one’s Vietnamese nationality is set forth in Article 24. 72 73 62 See Law on Vietnamese Nationality No 56/2014/QH13, 24 June 2014. Additional positive developments in the 2009 law include Article 18, a progressive provision according to which all “abandoned newborns and children found in the Vietnamese territory whose parents are unknown, have Vietnamese nationality.” Furthermore, the new law introduced limited circumstances in which foreigners could apply to acquire Vietnamese nationality as a second nationality, for example foreigners with a Vietnamese parent or child or someone who would contribute to the benefit of Vietnamese society, including Viet Nam’s development and defence. Law on Vietnamese Nationality [Viet Nam], No. 24/2008/QH12, 13 November 2008, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/ refworld/docid/4ac49b132.html. 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