The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Hanoi

Vietnam has amended its nationality law to legalise dual citizenship, a change that could affect many in the Vietnamese diaspora of more than three million people, officials said Friday.

The legislature of the communist country on Thursday passed a revised law that maintains Vietnam's long standing single-nationality principle but, for the first time, allows for a number of exceptions.

The change means that many post-war refugees and other overseas Vietnamese who have become citizens of second countries can officially reclaim their lapsed Vietnamese nationality without losing their new citizenship.

"Those who apply to regain Vietnamese nationality can retain their foreign citizenship if they have justified cause and with permission from the state president," reported the state-run Vietnam News Agency (VNA).