Vietnamese Mother in Vietnam and British Father - English baby Name?

nick4946 wrote:

Yes.

I am English and have a daughter with a Vietnamese girl. My daughter has two passports, a British one with a full British name and a Vietnamese one with a combination of a Vietnamese name and part British (my surname). She has travelled with me to many countries outside of Vietnam and has never had a problem. She leaves on her Vietnamese passport, enters other countries with her British one and returns to Vietnam by using her British one to leave, say England, and enters Vietnam with her Vietnamese one.

Sounds a bit complicated but it was quite easy to do with a lawyer's help. My advice is to get your child a British one as soon as possible as you never know what the future holds. A British passport is ticket to most places in the world.

If you require any help contact me. 0918 397604 or nick4946@gmail.com

Thank you for the offer, I will contact you just in case.

However ... for anybody looking for info ...

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As I said. A few years ago it was possible. That is why so many have mixed names here. Some of my students have mixed names also. But they are all above 5 yars old.

Now it is not. Not since 2015 or 2017 (not clear exactly when).

If I hear from anybody with a baby who is offically VN with a foreign name, great.

Otherwise, if you want to be a VN citizen (no matter what age) you must have a VN name.

nick4946 wrote:

She has travelled with me to many countries outside of Vietnam and has never had a problem. She leaves on her Vietnamese passport, enters other countries with her British one and returns to Vietnam by using her British one to leave, say England, and enters Vietnam with her Vietnamese one.

What name do you use on her airline tickets?

nick4946 wrote:

She has a notification on her British passport saying that she holds a Vietnamese passport as well.

That explains a lot.   

US dual passport holders do not have the same notification in their passport books.  Without such notice, boarding a plane going to Vietnam without a visa would be impossible due to controls by the airline, not immigration.  As a practical matter, they don't want to take you there if you have to come right back.  At the same time the name on the Vietnamese passport would not match the ticket and she could only board with some type of notarized statement that both people were one and the same.  Apparently the UK explicitly recognizes dual citizenship and that seems to effectively resolve part of the problem of two names.  As SongwriterUK's son will be a dual VN/UK citizen, as your daughter is, the same conditions should apply.

AlexFromBelgium wrote:

Legally speaking, I think the child must be first VN, before requesting another nationality, but the french embassy was slow and VN didn't already know that the child had the french nationality. He did everything from Vietnam.

Legally speaking, the child can have any nationality the parents wish him to have and still have his birth certificate issued by a Vietnamese hospital. 

If he's going to have a foreign nationality, the name on the birth certificate can be in the language of that country (as long as Roman alphabets are used). 

After receiving the acknowledgement of nationality from the Consulate, the parents can apply for him to be Vietnamese as second nationality at any time.  The name will be amended on birth certificate or naturalization document to show Vietnamese first and middle name plus foreign last name.

That's what the law said and that's what I relayed at least twice in previous posts, but for some reason, nobody wanted to look at that option.

AlmostDunRoamin wrote:

My wife & I are in a similar situation and wanted our son to have EN & VN forenames.  Some friends of ours achieved it but that was a few years ago.  When our lad was born, 18 months ago, we were told that the law had changed and now it is possible only to register Vietnamese names.

That is correct as of today. The family name will be foreign (if you want) but Vietnamese first and middle names.

nick4946 wrote:

I have never had a problem leaving or entering Vietnam with my daughter. I show both passports on leaving or entering Vietnam from abroad. Her passports were issued about 12 years ago.

Yes, it was a good gig. Was her first name foreign?

Pity so many things changed since 2017.

SongwriterUK wrote:

Yes, it was a good gig. Was her first name foreign?

Pity so many things changed since 2017.

Did you read his prior posts?  Allow me to quote from post #40 here: 

nick4946 wrote:

My daughter has two passports, a British one with a full British name and a Vietnamese one with a combination of a Vietnamese name and part British (my surname).

As I read this her UK passport has at least given name and family name English and presumably an English  middle name.  On her VN passport, her family name is Western (as it is her father's) and her other two names t are Vietnamese.

I am sorry if I seem critical, but it seems you are so emotionally wrapped up in this problem that you are loosing track of facts.

nick4946 wrote:

On her UK passport there is a notification in it that she also holds a Vietnamese passport in a different name.

There must be a distinction here between UK and US law.  My understanding is that the US used to explicitly disallow dual citizenship.  I am not sure what the exact legal status is now but the de facto policy seems to be to simply look the other way.  Her UK passport notification is probably an indication that the UK explicitly approves of dual citizenship.  That notification certainly must make her passing between and through Heathrow and Tan Son Nhat a lot easier than it would be otherwise.

nick4946 wrote:

You may well be right. Either way it works, long may it continue.

To whom did you make that comment?  Please click on 'Quote' under the post which you wish to send a reply, otherwise no one would understand your response.

THIGV wrote:

nick4946 wrote:

On her UK passport there is a notification in it that she also holds a Vietnamese passport in a different name.

There must be a distinction here between UK and US law.  My understanding is that the US used to explicitly disallow dual citizenship.  I am not sure what the exact legal status is now but the de facto policy seems to be to simply look the other way.  Her UK passport notification is probably an indication that the UK explicitly approves of dual citizenship.  That notification certainly must make her passing between and through Heathrow and Tan Son Nhat a lot easier than it would be otherwise.

eodmatt wrote:

Our daughter was born ten months ago in HCMC, my wife is Vietnamese, we live in HCMC where I have a 3  year TRC. We were married in 2005. Our daughter has both English and Vietnamese names on her birth certificate. So she is named Jenny Txxx Axxx followed by my wifes fathers name (surname) and my surname.

Congratulations, Matt, and a belated welcome to the word, Jenny.

And thank you for the most recent update on the matter of baby's names which has been going on for years without ever reaching an unanimous agreement.  Perhaps your experience will make SongwriterUK rethinking his adamant belief/opinion/knowing way.

eodmatt wrote:

Our daughter was born ten months ago in HCMC, my wife is Vietnamese, we live in HCMC where I have a 3  year TRC. We were married in 2005. Our daughter has both English and Vietnamese names on her birth certificate. So she is named Jenny Txxx Axxx followed by my wifes fathers name (surname) and my surname. That seems to have covered all the necessary angles. As far as Vietnam is concerned. As her birth was registered in Vietnam she is a Vietnamese citizen. As she is my daughter she is entitled to a UK passport. However I will need to research the process of getting our daughter a UK passport carefully as the UK Embassy and Consulate are very unhelpful and inefficient. This was amply demonstrated when getting my documents stamped at the UK consulate in HCMC prior to getting married when we were confronted by a local woman employee at the consulate,  who spoke virtually no English and a Brit official who refused to meet us face to face, but stayed upstairs somewhere and relayed ill advised comments to us via the local woman employee. The process of dealing with the consulate should have taken 15 minutes but took over three hours with my wife having to translate back and forth. It was very apparent that the "official upstairs" didn't know UK law and was deliberately being as unhelpful as he could. In summation, make sure that you can quote the law accurately and that your paperwork is in order.

I must say, when I did my marriage and passport paperwork at the Australian consulate they were very good. I have heard from my mates that the UK consulate is as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike. Seems you have had the same experience.