The National Assembly Standing Committee on Monday proposed adding four conditions under which Vietnamese citizens are not allowed to leave the country to amend the Law on Immigration.  — VNA/VNS Photo Văn Điệp

HÀ NỘI — The National Assembly Standing Committee on Monday proposed adding four conditions under which Vietnamese citizens are not allowed to leave the country to amend the Law on Immigration. 

The proposal was made during the afternoon meeting of the sixth working day of NA’s eighth session in Hà Nội led by NA Chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân.

According to the proposal, Vietnamese citizens would not be allowed to leave the country if they are under investigation for serious violations, are legal representatives of agencies and organisations serving a court’s judgments, are legal representatives of enterprises serving mandatory administrative fines on tax administration, or are representatives of organisations serving mandatory administrative fines.

The committee also proposed not issuing diplomatic and official passports to individuals other than those regulated in the current immigration law.

Also at the meeting, NA deputies stressed the importance of clearly presenting the State’s management responsibility for immigration in the law.  

Deputy Trương Trọng Nghĩa from HCM City said: “The law affects the right to enter and leave a country, which is considered a human right in the international conventions of which Việt Nam is a member.

“It’s one of the most sacred rights, so regulations that concern the limitation of this right must be planned carefully.

“So Article 3 of the law, which stipulates immigration principles, has to state clearly the State’s management responsibility for immigration so the State is bound to ensure citizens’ freedom to enter and leave the country.”

In the morning, a report collecting feedback on the draft revised Law on Militia and Self-Defence Forces was presented by Võ Trọng Việt, chairman of the NA’s Committee on National Defence and Security.

Fifteen lawmakers presented their opinions on the draft, mostly in favour of amending the law.

Also in the morning, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh reported on the State’s external activities in 2019.  

Concluding the working day, NA Vice Chairman Đỗ Bá Tỵ said the committee will direct agencies to fine-tune the laws before submitting them to the legislature for approval.

Today, the NA will hear a report on the draft amendments of a number of articles of the Law on the Organisation of the National Assembly, among others. — VNS