Instructions on procedures and documents for civil status supplementation in Vietnam

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1. Procedures for civil status supplementation in Vietnam

Procedures for adding civil status are specified in Article 29 of the Law on Civil Status 2014 and have been specifically guided in Article 18 of Circular 04/2020/TT-BTP on elaborating a number of Articles of Law on Civil Status and the Decree123/2015/ND-CP on guidelines for Law on Civil Status issued by the Minister of Justice specifically:

“Article 29. Procedures for civil status supplementation

1. Requesters for civil status supplementation shall submit declarations, made according to a set form, and relevant papers to the civil status registration agency.

2. Immediately after receiving complete papers specified in Clause 1 of this Article, if seeing that the civil status supplementation request is proper, the justice and civil status officer shall record the supplemented content in the relevant section in the civil status book and together with the requester sign in the civil status book, and report to the chairperson of the commune-level People's Committee to issue an extract to the requester.

In case of civil status supplementation to birth certificates or marriage certificates, the justice and civil status officer shall record the supplemented content in the relevant column and append a seal to the supplemented content.”

“Article 18. Civil status information revision

1. Civil status documents mentioned in Clause 2 Article 75 of the Law on Civil Status remain valid and do not need to be revised based on the existing civil status forms.

2. Civil status documents lawfully issued from January 01, 2016 may add missing civil status information if there are proofs lawfully issued by competent authorities/organizations.

Vietnamese citizenship shall be added to civil status documents issued from January 01, 2016 after it has been confirmed that the applicant has Vietnamese citizenship as per regulations of the Law on Vietnamese Citizenship.

3. In case a birth registered before January 01, 2016 lacks a date/month of birth in the birth certificate/birth register, the date/month of birth may be added based on the certificate of live birth or written confirmation of the healthcare establishment where the birth took place.

If there is no certificate of live birth or written confirmation of the healthcare establishment, the date/ month of birth shall be determined as follows:

a) If the individual’s personal documents have a consistent date/month of birth, this date/month shall be used.

If the individual’s personal documents have no consistent date/month of birth, the date/month on the document confirmed to be valid or issued first shall be chosen.

b) If the individual have no personal document or their personal documents contain no date/month of birth, they may draw up a confirmation of their date/month of birth according to regulations in Article 5 of this Circular.

c) If the date and month of birth could not be determined following the guidelines in Points a and b herein, January 01 of the birth year shall be chosen; if the birth month could be determined but not the birth date, the first of the birth month shall be chosen as the birth date.

4. In case the authority revising the civil status information is not the original civil registration authority, after revision is completed, a written notification and a copy of the civil status extract shall be sent to the original civil registration authority to have the new information added to the civil register; if the original civil registration authority is a representative mission, the notification shall be sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”

2. Order for civil status supplementation

The National Public Service Portal provides detailed instructions on the sequence of supplementary citizenship registration as follows:

- Individuals who request changes, amendments, or additions to citizenship information submit their application to the competent People's Committee at the commune level.

- The person receiving the application is responsible for immediately checking the entire dossier, determining the validity of the documents submitted by the applicant, and comparing the information in the declaration form with the documents in the dossier.

- If the dossier is complete and valid, the person receiving the application writes a receipt, clearly stating the date and time of result delivery. If the dossier is incomplete, guidance is provided to the applicant on the necessary additions and improvements according to regulations. If it is not possible to immediately complete the dossier, a written instruction must be prepared, clearly stating the type of document and the content to be supplemented or improved, signed, and clearly indicating the name of the person receiving the application.

- After receiving all the required documents as per regulations, if the changes, amendments, or additions to citizenship information are justified and in accordance with the provisions of civil law and related laws, the judicial officer reports to the Chairman of the People's Committee at the commune level. If the Chairman of the People's Committee at the commune level agrees to resolve the request, the corresponding citizenship extract (extract of citizenship changes/amendments/supplemental information) is issued to the applicants; judicial officials.

- The citizenship officer records the changes, amendments, or additions to citizenship information in the Register of Citizenship Changes, Amendments, or Supplemental Information and confirms the ethnicity. The applicant is guided to verify the citizenship documents and the Citizenship Register, and both parties sign the Register. In cases where changes, amendments, or additions to citizenship information are related to Birth Certificates or Marriage Certificates, the judicial officer

- The citizenship officer records the changes, amendments to the citizenship information in the Birth Certificate or Marriage Certificate; adds the citizenship information to the corresponding section, and stamps it on the additional content.

- In cases where the registration of changes, amendments to citizenship is not made at the previous place of citizenship registration, the commune-level People's Committee must notify the People's Committee in writing, accompanied by a certified copy of the citizenship extract, at the previous place of citizenship registration for entry into the Citizenship Register.

- In cases where the previous place of citizenship registration is a diplomatic mission, the commune-level People's Committee must notify in writing, accompanied by a certified copy of the citizenship extract, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for transmission to the diplomatic mission to be included in the Citizenship Register.

3. Required documents for civil status supplementation

- Documents to be submitted:

+ Declaration form for changes, amendments, or additions to citizenship information, reconfirming ethnicity according to the following template:  Downloan (1 original copy).

+ Supporting documents for changes, amendments, or additions to citizenship information. (1 certified copy)

+ Authorization document as prescribed by law in the case of authorized registration for changes, amendments, or additions to citizenship information. If the authorized person is the father, mother, son, daughter, spouse, sibling, or relative of the authorized person, the authorization document does not need to be notarized. (1 original copy)

- Documents to be presented:

+ Passport or identification card or citizen identification card or other documents with photos and personal information issued by the competent authority, valid for proving the identity of the applicant for changes, amendments, or additions to citizenship information. (1 original copy)

+ Proof of residence to determine the registration authority for changes, amendments, or additions to citizenship information (during the transitional period). (1 original copy)

+ In case of sending the application through the postal system, a certified copy of the required documents must be included.

Note: Regarding the submitted and presented documents:

If the applicant submits a certified copy obtained from the original register or a certified copy of the original, the person receiving the application cannot require the presentation of the original document. If the applicant only submits a photocopy and presents the original document, the person receiving the application verifies, compares the photocopy with the original, and signs the photocopy to confirm the verification of the document's contents. The applicant is not required to submit a certified copy of that document.

Regarding the documents presented during citizenship registration, the person receiving the application is responsible for checking and comparing them with the information in the declaration form, taking photos or recording the information for storage in the dossier, and returning the documents to the applicant. The person receiving the application cannot require the submission of a certified copy or photocopy of those documents.

The person receiving the application is responsible for receiving the complete and proper citizenship registration dossier according to the provisions of the citizenship law, and cannot require the applicant to submit additional documents not specified by the citizenship law.

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