Lawyer Ngo Thanh Ba from "Niem tin Cong ly" (Trust in Justice) Law Office, a member of the Hanoi Bar Association, said that previously, many people of Vietnamese origin who wanted to buy land in Vietnam had to ask other persons to represent them to conduct transactions, leading to many disputes during the transfer and management of land use rights. The revised Land Law’s expansion of land users will help address that problem.

Some regulations in this law clarify that land users who are overseas Vietnamese (OV) people include the ones who are Vietnamese citizens residing abroad and people of Vietnamese origin residing abroad. It also features detailed regulations that expand the land use rights and obligations, along with the land management and use regime for these two groups, he noted.

For example, Ba said, people of Vietnamese origin abroad who are land users are now entitled to almost all the related rights of Vietnamese citizens. Foreign-invested economic entities and people of Vietnamese origin abroad are also given some more rights such as receiving transferred land use rights and re-renting out the land use rights at industrial and hi-tech parks.

The lawyer said that the expansion of land use rights for OVs will create a favourable environment for them to make investment, do business, and work.

This is an important stride of the revised Land Law as it improves the law’s consistency with the revised Law on Real Estate Business and the revised Law on Housing, helping promote opportunities for OVs to access, own, and use land more effectively and also attract more remittances and investment from OVs to the real estate market and the economy at large, he opined.

To further attract OV investment and remittances, Ba recommended the Government to review the regulations related to OVs' land use rights in other laws like the revised laws on real estate business and housing, along with the procedures for certifying Vietnamese citizens abroad.

The Government should also steps up the dissemination of promulgated laws and continue improving the laws relevant to OVs’ rights, he added./.VNA