Can a 19-year-old male get married in Vietnam? What should I do if I want to get married in Vietnam but my family opposes it?

Can a 19-year-old male get married in Vietnam?

My brother is 19 years old this year, is it legal for my family to hold a wedding for him in the near future? Thank you!

Reply:

According to the provisions of Clause 8, Article 3 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014:

8. Underage marriage means getting married when one or both partners has or have not reached the marriage age prescribed at Point a, Clause 1, Article 8 of this Law.

Point a, Clause 1, Article 8 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014 stipulates the conditions for marriage as follows:

1. A man and a woman wishing to marry each other must satisfy the following conditions:

a /The man is full 20 years or older, the woman is full 18 years or older;

Regarding the level of sanction for the act of child marriage is specified in Article 47 of Decree 110/2013/ND-CP stipulating the sanction of administrative violations in the field of judicial assistance, judicial administration, marriage and family, civil judgment enforcements, Enterprise and cooperative bankruptcy:

1. A caution or a fine of between VND 500,000 and 1,000,000 shall be imposed for the acts of organization of marriage for persons who are under marriageable age;

2. A fine of between VND 1,000,000 and 3,000,000 shall be imposed for the acts of deliberately illegally maintaining conjugal relationship despite of the Court’s decision to coercively terminate that relationship;

Thus, your family and your in-laws may be subject to a warning or a fine of between VND 500,000 and 1,000,000 for the act of organizing a marriage for persons who are under marriageable age in Vietnam.

What should I do if I want to get married in Vietnam but my family opposes it?

My girlfriend and I have known each other for more than 5 years, we are also getting married, but my family has objections about when the fortune-teller said we were not suitable. I have persuaded my family many times but still no change. I want to ask what I need to do now to legally marry my girlfriend.

Reply:

According to Article 8 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014, the conditions for getting married are as follows:

1. A man and a woman wishing to marry each other must satisfy the following conditions:

a /The man is full 20 years or older, the woman is full 18 years or older;

b/ The marriage is voluntarily decided by the man and woman;

c/ The man and woman do not lose the civil act capacity;

d/ The marriage does not fall into one of the cases prescribed at Points a, b, c and d, Clause 2, Article 5 of this Law.

2. The State shall not recognize marriage between persons of the same sex.

At points a, b, c and d, Clause 2, Article 5 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014 stipulates:

2. The following acts are prohibited:

a/ Sham marriage or sham divorce;

b/ Underage marriage, forcing a person into marriage, deceiving a person into marriage, obstructing marriage;

c/ A married person getting married to or cohabitating as husband and wife with another person, or an unmarried person getting married to or cohabitating as husband and wife with a married person;

d/ Getting married or cohabitating as husband and wife between people of the same direct blood line; relatives within three generations; adoptive parent and adopted child; or former adoptive parent and adopted child, father-in-law and daughter-in-law, mother-in-law and son-in-law, or stepparent and stepchild;

According to the above regulations in Vietnam, if you and your girlfriend meet the above conditions and do not fall into the prohibited acts, you can apply for marriage registration. Your family's objection does not affect your marriage registration.

According to Article 18 of the Law on civil status 2014 and Article 10 of Decree 123/2015/ND-CP guiding the civil status law, the composition of the dossier includes:

- Present ID card or Passport or other identification document;

- Marriage registration declaration form.

- In case a person resides in this commune, ward or township, but registers his marriage in another commune, ward or township, there must be a certification of the People's Committee of the commune, place of residence about the marital status of the person. 

- For people who are working, studying or working abroad, returning to their home country to register their marriage, they must have a certification from the Vietnamese diplomatic or consular office in the host country about their marital status. 

- For officers and soldiers working in the armed forces, the head of that person's unit shall certify his marital status.

The above-mentioned marital status certification can be confirmed directly on the marriage registration declaration form (according to the form) or by the certificate of marital status (according to the form).
The confirmation of marital status is valid for 6 months from the date of confirmation.

Procedures for marriage registration are prescribed in Article 38 of the Law on civil status 2014 as follows:

Upon marriage registration, both male and female partners must be present at the head office of the People's Committee, the civil status officer shall ask for opinions of the male and female partners. If seeing that they voluntarily marry each other, the civil status officer shall record the marriage in the civil status book and together with the male and female partners sign in the civil status book. The male and female partners shall both sign in the marriage certificate.

The chairperson of the district-level People's Committee shall hand the marriage certificate to the couple.

If my criminal record has been expunged, can I marry someone who works in the police force in Vietnam?

Let me ask you, I currently have a boyfriend who is a police officer. I have a suspended sentence of 6 months and I was expunged 3 years ago. Is it legal for me to marry my boyfriend?

Reply:

The marriage of a man and a woman must comply with the provisions of Article 8 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014.

Pursuant to the regulations of the Minister of Public Security on political standards of officers and soldiers of the People's Public Security, regulations on political standards of officers and soldiers of the People's Public Security are as follows:

The following three criteria must be met:

- Regarding ethnicity, the Kinh ethnic group is the standard.

- Regarding religion: People in the security and police sectors are not allowed to marry Christians.

- About declaration of background and family composition of 3 generations. If you have one or more party members in your family, verify for 2 generations (Depending on who goes to check).

Basic conditions for not marrying a police officer:

1. The family acts as a henchman for the feudal system, Wei army, and Wei power

2. Parents or yourself have a criminal record or are serving a prison sentence.

3. Your family or yourself are Catholic, Christianity, Evangelicalism...

4. Your family or yourself are ethnic Chinese.

5. Parents or themselves are foreigners (even naturalized in Vietnam)

In addition, according to Clause 1, Article 69 of the Penal Code 2015 stipulates:

1. A convict may have his conviction expunged in accordance with Article 70 through 73 hereof. A person whose conviction is expunged is treated as if he/she does not have such conviction.

A criminal record is understood as a person who commits a crime, is convicted and the sentence has taken legal effect, they are serving or have finished serving that sentence, but the statutory time has not passed, to be considered as a criminal record has not been expunged. Convicted persons who have had their criminal records expunged are considered to have no previous convictions.

Therefore, your case has been expunged of criminal record, it is considered as having no criminal record. That is why you are not considered to have a criminal record.

So you can get married with your friend, but whether or not you can get married depends on the police's own regulations as well as on the results of the background check from your boyfriend 's agency.

Here is what we sent to you.

Best regards!