Procedures for birth registration for children when parents have not yet registered their marriage in Vietnam

Hello, Lawnet would like to answer the following:

1. Am I allowed to declare the birth of my child without a marriage certificate in Vietnam?

According to Article 30 of the Civil Code 2015, the right to birth and death registration is as follows:

Article 30. Right to declaration of birth and death

When an individual is born, he/she has the right to have his/her birth declared.

When an individual dies, he/she has the right to have his/her death declared.

If a newborn dies after 24 hours or later from the time of birth, his/her birth and death must be declared; if he/she dies under 24 hours from the time of birth, his/her birth and death are not required to be declared, unless his/her biological father or mother request.

The declaration of birth and death shall be prescribed in by law on civil status affairs.

Thus, any individual born has the right to be born, and if a child lives for more than twenty-four hours or more before dying, his/her birth and death must be registered. Therefore, the parents' failure to register their marriage does not affect the child's right to declare birth.

2. Application and procedures for birth registration for children when parents have not yet registered their marriage

According to the provisions of Article 15 of Decree 123/2015/ND-CP, the guidance on birth registration for children whose parents cannot be identified are as follows:

Article 15. Birth registration for children with unidentified parents

The People’s Committee of commune where the child resides shall apply for birth registration for the child with unidentified parents.

If a child’s father is unidentified, the family name, race, native place, nationality of the child in the application for birth registration shall be determined according to respective information of his/her mother; the child’s father section in vital records and birth certificate shall be left blank.

If the father, at the time of application for birth registration, applies for recognition of father-child relationship as prescribed in Clause 1 Article 25 of the Law on civil status, the People’s Committee shall both process the recognition and birth registration; birth registration contents shall be determined as prescribed in Clause 1 Article 4 of this Decree.

In case of a child whose mother is unidentified, if his/her child applies for both birth registration and recognition of parent-child relationship, Clause 3 of this Article shall apply; the child’s mother section in the vital records and birth certificate shall be left blank.

Procedures for birth registration for children with unidentified parents other than those who are abandoned shall be consistent with Clause 3 Article 14 hereof; the phrase “children with unidentified parents" shall be specified in the vital records.

Thus, in your case, your Partner needs to carry out the procedures to be recognize as the child's father and submit a declaration according to the prescribed form and proof of paternity to the civil status registration agency.

Thus, the application for birth registration combined with the procedure for recognizing father, mother and child, includes:

- Birth registration declaration form,

Birth registration form: Download

- Declaration of registration to recognize father, mother, child,

Application form for registration of parent-child relationship: Download

- Birth certificate or alternative document,

- Evidence to prove the parent-child relationship (documents issued by the health agency, assessment agency, or other competent agencies and organizations to confirm the paternity or mother-child relationship). In case there is no evidence to prove the parent-child relationship, the parties may proceed to make a written undertaking about the parent-child relationship with at least two witnesses.

Regarding birth registration procedures, according to the provisions of Article 16 of the Law on Civil Status 2014:

Article 16. Birth registration procedures in Vietnam

Birth registrants shall submit declarations made according to a set form and birth certification papers to the civil status registration agency. If having no birth certification paper, a document of a witness certifying the birth shall be submitted; if there is no witness, there must be a written pledge of the birth; for birth registration for abandoned children, there must be a written record certifying the child’s abandonment made by a competent agency; for birth registration for children born by surrogate mothers, there must be a document proving the surrogacy as prescribed by law.

Thus, after having submitted all the required documents, if seeing that the birth declaration is complete and proper, justice and civil status officers shall record birth registration contents and update them in the electronic civil status database and the national population database for getting personal identification numbers.

Best regards!

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