Overseas Vietnamese students
The Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security has scrapped a proposal to revoke the permanent residence status of people who are in jail or live overseas for more than two years following public objections.
Speaking to Tuoi Tre newspaper Thursday, Colonel Tran The Quan, deputy head of the ministry’s Legal Department, said the proposal was taken out of amendments recommended to the Law on Residence after considering feedback.
The change had been in line with the law which requires permanent residents to live in their registered place of domicile, he said.
When someone moves to another place, their permanent residence status at the earlier place ends though they will be get it back upon return.
At the new place, a permanent residentship can be obtained by living in a particular house for more than one year.
Quan said that since people are still “sensitive” when it comes to the revocation of permanent residence status, the ministry decided to scrap the proposal.
Instead, official agencies would just note that someone has moved out of their place of domicile, he said.
Earlier there had been objections from lawmakers when Deputy Minister of Public Security Pham Quy Ngo submitted the bill to the National Assembly’s Standing Committee Tuesday.
Phan Trung Ly, chairman of the house Law Committee, said it was “not reasonable” to deprive people of their permanent residence status when they live abroad for more than two years.
He also feared that the proposal, if approved, could cause problems for people studying or working abroad, forcing them to end their sojourn prematurely and return to Vietnam to protect their residence status.
National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung said: “Freedom of residence is a basic right. But what kind of freedom is it when you remove my name from the record immediately after I fly overseas?
“Your record book is very big, so all you need to do is note that I’m absent from my registered residential place, why do you have to delete my name?”
According to the Ministry of Public Security, the Law on Residence needs to be amended to tighten regulations on granting permanent residence status in centrally administered cities due to the pressure on infrastructure since people are flocking to them.
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