With the enactment of the 2024 Land Law, overseas Vietnamese are divided into two groups of subjects corresponding to different rights and obligations in accessing, owning, and using real estate.

The first group of overseas Vietnamese is “Vietnamese people residing abroad who are Vietnamese citizens.” This group is classified under the 2024 Land Law together with domestic individuals and collectively referred to as “individuals”(5). Accordingly, overseas Vietnamese who are Vietnamese citizens have rights and obligations as land users similar to those of domestic individuals in purchasing, selling, donating, inheriting, etc., land use rights for residential land and housing in accordance with the law.

The second group of overseas Vietnamese is “persons of Vietnamese origin residing abroad”(6). This group is established under the 2024 Land Law as a separate category of subjects with rights and obligations similar to those of “overseas Vietnamese” as provided in the 2013 Land Law. However, the new provisions are expanded and more favorable in certain respects.

Specifically, under the 2013 Land Law, overseas Vietnamese who are persons of Vietnamese origin residing abroad were only allowed to receive transfers of residential land use rights through the forms of purchase, lease-purchase, inheritance, or receipt of gifts of houses attached to residential land use rights, or to receive residential land use rights in housing development projects(7).

Under the 2024 Land Law, the rights of this group have been more specifically regulated and expanded as follows: “Persons of Vietnamese origin residing abroad who are permitted to enter Vietnam may receive transfers of land use rights in industrial parks, industrial clusters, and high-tech zones”(8), and “persons of Vietnamese origin residing abroad who are permitted to enter Vietnam may purchase or lease-purchase houses attached to residential land use rights; receive residential land use rights in housing development projects; inherit residential land use rights and other types of land within the same land parcel that has a house in accordance with civil law; and receive gifts of houses attached to residential land use rights from persons within the line of heirs in accordance with civil law”(9).

With these provisions, the group of overseas Vietnamese who are persons of Vietnamese origin residing abroad (and permitted to enter Vietnam) will no longer be restricted in their rights to inherit residential land use rights or to receive gifts of houses outside housing development projects.

The above changes have contributed to establishing a clear legal framework that not only expands overseas Vietnamese’ access to real estate but also helps resolve many long-standing obstacles and bottlenecks in administrative procedures related to land use by this group of subjects, which have existed for a long time and have caused numerous disputes for the public.

Thus, it can be seen that overseas Vietnamese have been granted significantly expanded rights of access to real estate under the 2024 Land Law. The group of overseas Vietnamese who are “Vietnamese people residing abroad and holding Vietnamese citizenship” will be allowed to purchase houses and have housing ownership rights and land use rights similar to domestic citizens. Meanwhile, the group of overseas Vietnamese who are “persons of Vietnamese origin residing abroad” will be eligible to be granted certificates of land use rights upon satisfying certain conditions, including notably the conditions of “Vietnamese origin” and “being permitted to enter Vietnam.”