Procedures for death registration in Vietnam 2023

1. Procedures for death registration in Vietnam

Pursuant to the provisions of Articles 34 and 52 of the Law on Civil Status 2014, the procedures for death registration are as follows:

Death registration procedures at the commune-level People's Committee

- Persons responsible for death registration shall submit declarations, made according to a set form, and death notices or other substitute papers to the civil status registration agency.

- Immediately after receiving papers specified in Clause 1 of this Article, if seeing that the death declaration is proper, the justice and civil status officer shall record the death declaration contents in the civil status book and together with the death declarant sign in the civil status book and report to the chairperson of the commune-level People's Committee to issue an extract to the death declarant.

- The justice and civil status officer shall close civil status information of the deceased person in the electronic civil status database.

Death registration procedures at district-level People's Committees

- Death registrants shall submit declarations, made according to a set form, and the death notice or a death notice substitute paper to the civil status registration agency.

- Immediately upon receiving complete papers above, if seeing that the death declaration is proper, the civil status officer shall record it in the civil status book and together with the death registrant sign in the civil status book.

The district-level Justice Division shall report to the chairperson of the district-level People’s Committee to issue an extract to the death registrant.

In case of necessity to verify, the settlement time limit is 3 working days.

- After death registration, the district-level People’s Committee shall issued a written notice enclosed with the civil status extract to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for notification to the competent agency of the country of which the deceased person is a citizen.

If the deceased person is a Vietnamese citizen residing abroad, the civil status officer shall close his/her information in the electronic civil status database.

Thus, the person who goes to register the death shall do so directly at the headquarters of the People's Committee at the commune and district levels. At the same time, submit the declaration according to the prescribed form and the death notice or other paper instead of the death notice to the civil status registration agency.

In addition, people who go to register for death can choose to submit an application online. Those who require death registration can access the National Public Service Portal or the Provincial Public Service Portal, register an account (if they don't have one), authenticate the user according to the instructions, log in to the system, and correctly identify the competent commune-level People's Committee.

Persons requesting online death registration provide information in an interactive electronic form for death registration (provided on the Public Service Portal), attach photocopies or electronic copies of papers and documents as prescribed; pay fees and charges through the online payment function or by other methods as prescribed by law, and complete the application.

2. Death registration contents in Vietnam

Pursuant to the provisions of Article 4 of Decree 123/2015/ND-CP on determining the content of death registration as follows:

- Essential contents of an application for death registration as prescribed the Law on civil status: The deceased’s full name, year of birth, personal identification number (if any); place of death; cause of death; date and time of death by solar calendar; and nationality (if the deceased is a foreigner).

-  Death registration contents shall be determined according to the death notice or equivalent document issued by the following competent authority:

+ If a person dies at a health facility, the head of health facility shall issue a death notice;

+ If a person dies as a result of enforcement of a death sentence, the President of the Board of death sentence shall issue a document certifying the enforcement of death sentence instead of a death notice;

+ If a person is given a declaration of presumed death by a court, the effective judgment/decision shall replace a death notice;

+ If a person dies in a vehicle, dies from accident, is killed, dies suddenly or dies with doubt, a document certifying the death issued by a police authority or findings of forensic examination agency shall replace a death notice;

+ If a person dies from another cause other than those prescribed in Points a, b, c, and d of this Clause, the People’s Committee of commune where he/she dies shall issue a death notice.

In addition, for a deceased person who does not fall into one of the above cases, the commune-level People's Committee of the place where he/she dies is responsible for issuing a death notice.

Thus, the essential contents of an application for death registration are: The deceased’s full name, year of birth, personal identification number (if any); place of death; cause of death; date and time of death by solar calendar; and nationality (if the deceased is a foreigner).

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