Is it permissible to get married while serving a suspended sentence in Vietnam? Is it permissible for parents in Vietnam to register their children's marriage on behalf of their children?
Is it permissible to get married while serving a suspended sentence in Vietnam? Is it permissible for parents in Vietnam to register their children's marriage on behalf of their children? Is it permissible to register a marriage without having a criminal record cleared in Vietnam?
Is it permissible to get married while serving a suspended sentence in Vietnam?
My lover, who participated in gambling, was sentenced to 1 year in prison. However, he was given a suspended sentence. Both sides of our family have decided the date for our wedding right, but that day is the same day when he is going to serve his suspended sentence. Is it permissible to get married while serving a suspended sentence in Vietnam?
Answer:
Pursuant to Article 8 of the Law on Marriage and Family in 2014, stipulating conditions for getting married as follows:
- The man is full 20 years or older, the woman is full 18 years or older;
- The marriage is voluntarily decided by the man and woman;
- The man and woman do not lose the civil act capacity;
- 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.
Pursuant to Clause 2.a, b, c, d, Article 5 of the Law on Marriage and Family in 2014 stipulating prohibited acts as follows:
- Sham marriage or sham divorce;
- Underage marriage, forcing a person into marriage, deceiving a person into marriage, obstructing marriage;
- 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;
- 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;
- Demanding property in marriage;
- Forcing a person into divorce; deceiving a person into divorce; obstructing divorce;
- Giving birth with assisted reproductive technology for commercial purpose, commercial gestational surrogacy, prenatal sex selection, cloning;
- Domestic violence;
- Taking advantage of marriage and family rights for human trafficking, labor exploitation or sexual abuse or committing another act for self-seeking purposes.
Thus, if both of you meet the above conditions and are not in one of the cases where marriage is prohibited, you can still get married even if your boyfriend is serving a suspended sentence.
Is it permissible for parents in Vietnam to register their children's marriage on behalf of their children?
My boyfriend and I are from the same hometown. Our families' houses are next to each other. We plan to register our marriage this year. However, since we both live and work in the city right now, we can't go back to our hometown to register our marriage. Can we authorize our parents to register our marriage on behalf of us?
Answer:
Pursuant to Article 8 of the Law on Marriage and Family in 2014, a man and a woman wishing to marry each other must satisfy the following conditions:
(1) The man is full 20 years or older, the woman is full 18 years or older;
(2) The marriage is voluntarily decided by the man and woman;
(3) The man and woman do not lose the civil act capacity;
(4) The marriage does not fall into one of the cases as below:
- Sham marriage or sham divorce;
- Underage marriage, forcing a person into marriage, deceiving a person into marriage, obstructing marriage;
- 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;
- 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;
- Demanding property in marriage;
- Forcing a person into divorce; deceiving a person into divorce; obstructing divorce;
- Giving birth with assisted reproductive technology for commercial purpose, commercial gestational surrogacy, prenatal sex selection, cloning;
- Domestic violence;
- Taking advantage of marriage and family rights for human trafficking, labor exploitation or sexual abuse or committing another act for self-seeking purposes.
Pursuant to Clause 1 Article 9 of the Law on Marriage and Family in 2014, a marriage shall be registered with a competent state agency in accordance with this Law and the law on civil status.
Note: A marriage that is not registered at a competent state agency has no legal value.
Pursuant to Article 18 of the Law on Cilvil Status in 2014 stipulating as follows:
Article 18. Marriage registration procedures
1. The male and female partners shall submit the marriage registration declaration, made according to a set form to the civil status registration agency and must be both present at the time of marriage registration.
2. Immediately after receiving complete papers specified in Clause 1 of this Article, if seeing that the marriage conditions are fully met in accordance with the Law on Marriage and Family, the justice and 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 the marriage certificate; the justice and civil status officer shall report to the chairperson of the commune-level People's Committee to organize the handover of the marriage certificate to the couple.
In case of necessity to verify the marriage conditions of the male and female partners, the time limit for settlement is 5 working days.
Thus, based on the above-cited regulations, when registering a marriage, both male and female parties must submit a marriage registration declaration to the civil status registration agency and be present at the time of marriage registration. That means that the two parties, when registering their marriage, have to go directly to the civil status registration agency to carry out the marriage registration procedures without authorizing another person to go instead.
Therefore: In case you and your lover from the same hometown, intend to register your marriage this year, both of you must go directly to the civil status registration office to carry out the marriage registration procedures. It is not allowed to authorize your parents to register the marriage for the two of you (the civil status registration agency will not handle it).
Pursuant to Clause 1 Article 17 of the Law on Cilvil Status in 2014, commune-level People's Committees of the place of residence of either of the male and female partners shall make marriage registration.
Pursuant to the Law on the Residence in 2020, “residence” refers to a citizen’s state of living at a location in a commune-level administrative unit or a district-level administrative unit where there is no commune-level administrative unit (hereinafter collectively referred to as “commune-level administrative unit”).
- Lawful place of residence means a dwelling over which a citizen has the right to ownership or right to use, including houses, watercrafts, other vehicles or other dwellings as per the law.
- Place of permanent residence refers to a place of secure and long-term residence of a citizen that is registered as their permanent residence;
- Place of temporary residence refers to a place of short-term residence of a citizen save their place of permanent residence that is registered as their temporary residence.
Thus, based on the above provisions, it is not necessary for the two of you to return to your hometown to carry out the marriage registration procedures, but only if you have registered for temporary residence in the locality where you are living and working. You can contact the People's Committee of the commune, ward or township where you are temporarily staying to complete the marriage registration procedure.
Is it permissible to register a marriage without having a criminal record cleared in Vietnam?
My brother is about to get married. He has just finished serving the suspended sentence because of beating a neighbor. His criminal record has not been cleared yet. Can he register his marriage now?
Answer:
Pursuant to Article 8 of the Law on Marriage and Family in 2014, a man and a woman wishing to marry each other must satisfy the following conditions:
- The man is full 20 years or older, the woman is full 18 years or older;
- The marriage is voluntarily decided by the man and woman;
- The man and woman do not lose the civil act capacity;
- The marriage does not fall into one of the cases as below:
+ Sham marriage or sham divorce;
+ Underage marriage, forcing a person into marriage, deceiving a person into marriage, obstructing marriage;
+ 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;
+ 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;
+ Demanding property in marriage;
+ Forcing a person into divorce; deceiving a person into divorce; obstructing divorce;
+ Giving birth with assisted reproductive technology for commercial purpose, commercial gestational surrogacy, prenatal sex selection, cloning;
+ Domestic violence;
+ Taking advantage of marriage and family rights for human trafficking, labor exploitation or sexual abuse or committing another act for self-seeking purposes.
Best regards!
