Citizenship regulation for overseas Vietnamese to be revised The NA's Law Committee has agreed to set back the deadline by five years for overseas Vietnamese to register their citizenships.   President Truong Tan Sang visits oversea Vietnamese The nationality laws stated that overseas Vietnamese who had not lost their citizenship at the time the regulation was issued, in 2009, and still wished to keep their Vietnam citizenship, must register within five years, making the deadline July 2014. Not doing so would result in the revoking of Vietnamese citizenship. As of now, only 6,000 out of 4.5 million overseas Vietnamese have registered. According to the Vietnam National Assembly's Law Committee, there were many who thought the law should be scrapped because it has been shown to be impractical and ineffective. Even though a majority of the committee members agreed the regulation should be done away with, others are worried about possible legal consequences, such as the unclear citizenship status for oversea Vietnamese. This unclear status might make it difficult their rights as citizens to be protected.  The chairman of NA's Law Committee, Phan Trung Ly, finally decided on two plans before submitting them to the NA for discussion. The first plan is to extend the deadline by five more years. People who register for Vietnamese citizenship would also be provided visa services. The second plan is to scrap the regulation entirely. Overseas Vietnamese who have not lost their citizenship could still create or change Vietnamese passports in accordance with the laws. Nguyen Cong Khanh, head of the Justice Ministry's Department of Civil Status, Nationality and Authentication, said they thought that only a few people would register. Most overseas Vietnamese already have foreign citizenships and many countries do not allow dual citizenship.  Khanh added that the regulation was aimed at protecting the rights of overseas Vietnamese's. By P. Thao,  dtinews.vn