Are there penalties for tearing up a marriage certificate in Vietnam? Is it possible for the Commune People's Committee refuses to correct the marriage certificate with incorrect information in Vietnam?

Is it complicated to register a child's birth without being married in Vietnam?

Hello. I would like to ask, when giving birth to a child without a marriage registration, is the born child eligible to have documents such as a birth certificate? If I don't have a marriage certificate, can I get a birth certificate for my child? Please advise.

Reply:

According to the provisions of Article 15 of Decree 123/2015/ND-CP guiding birth registration for children with unidentified parents as follows:

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

2. 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.

3. 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. Specifically:

- Birth certificate content is determined according to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 14 of the 2014 Law on Civil Status:

1. Birth registration contents include:

a/ Information of the person whose birth is registered: family name, middle name and first name; gender; birthdate; birthplace; native place; ethnicity; and citizenship;

b/ Information of the parents of the person whose birth is registered: full name, middle name and first name; year of birth; ethnicity; citizenship; and place of residence;

c/ The personal identification number of the person whose birth is registered.

2. The determination of citizenship, ethnicity and family name of a person whose birth is registered must comply with the law on Vietnamese nationality and civil law.

3. Contents of birth registration specified in Clause 1 of this Article are basic civil status information of individuals and shall be recorded in the civil status books and birth certificates and updated in the electronic civil status database and national population database. Dossiers and papers of individuals related to birth registration information must be consistent with their birth registration contents.

The Government shall stipulate the grant of personal identification numbers to persons whose birth is registered.

=> Thus, according to the above regulations in Vietnam, the birth registration procedure for a child is not required to have a marriage certificate of the parents, so you can register the child's birth.

Are there penalties for tearing up a marriage certificate in Vietnam?

Let me ask, if my husband tears up the marriage certificate because of an argument, will he be fined? If so, how much specifically?

Reply:

According to Clause 7, Article 4 of the 2014 Civil Status Law:

7. Marriage certificate means a document issued by a competent state agency to the male and female partners upon marriage registration; a marriage certificate contains basic information specified in Clause 2, Article 17 of this Law.

And Point b, Clause 1, Article 3 of the 2014 Civil Status Law stipulates: Confirmation in the civil status book of the marriage event.

=> According to these grounds in Vietnam, it can be seen that a marriage certificate is a type of civil status document.

Point a Clause 4 Article 45 of Decree 82/2020/ND-CP stipulates:

Fine from 10,000,000 VND to 20,000,000 VND for one of the following acts:

Destroying civil status documents; civil status book.

=> Thus, the act of tearing up a marriage certificate is a violation of the law and can be fined from 10 to 20 million VND in Vietnam.

In addition, the person committing the violation in Vietnam will also have material evidence and means of administrative violation confiscated and request competent agencies, organizations and people to consider and handle torn documents (Point a Clause 5 and Point a Clause 6).

Is it possible for the Commune People's Committee refuses to correct the marriage certificate with incorrect information in Vietnam?

Let me ask, my wife had the wrong ID card number with her marriage certificate, so I went to the Commune People's Committee to have it corrected, but the Commune People's Committee told me that I had to go to the district to take an exam and they would correct it. Is that correct?