Procedure for Marriage Registration with a Foreign National in the Country

1. Legal Basis:

- Article 8 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014;

- Article 38 of the Law on Civil Status 2014.

- Articles 30, 31, 32 of Decree 123/2015/ND-CP;

- Resolution 124/2016/NQ-HDND;

- Circular 85/2019/TT-BTC.

2. Conditions:

For foreigners marrying Vietnamese citizens: they must meet the marriage conditions of the country where they hold citizenship.

Additionally, they must fully meet the following conditions (applied to both Vietnamese citizens and foreigners marrying at a competent Vietnamese state agency):

- Male and female marrying each other must comply with the following conditions:

+ Male must be at least 20 years old, female must be at least 18 years old.

+ Marriage is decided voluntarily by both male and female.

+ Not losing civil act capacity.

+ Marriage does not fall into one of the prohibited cases as prescribed in Points a, b, c and d Clause 2 Article 5 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014.

- The State does not recognize same-sex marriages.

3. Dossier:

- Identity card or passport or citizen identification card or other documents with a photo and personal information issued by competent authorities, still valid (hereinafter referred to as identity documents) to prove identity.

- Both male and female parties shall submit a declaration form according to the prescribed format and a certificate from a competent health organization of Vietnam or a foreign country confirming that the person does not have any mental diseases or other diseases that render them unable to recognize or control their behaviors to the civil status registration agency.

- Foreigners and Vietnamese citizens residing abroad must submit additional documents proving marital status, a copy of the passport or documents equivalent to passport.

+ Documents proving the marital status of a foreigner are certificates issued by competent foreign authorities confirming that the person currently does not have a spouse; in cases where foreign countries do not issue marital status certificates, they can be replaced with documents from competent foreign authorities confirming that the person meets the marriage conditions under the laws of that country.

+ If the documents proving the marital status of a foreigner do not specify the validity period, these documents and the certificate from the health organization as prescribed in Clause 1 Article 38 of the Law on Civil Status are only valid for 6 months from the date of issuance.

- In case the foreigner does not have a passport for presentation, they may present international travel documents or a residence card.

- If the marrying party is a Vietnamese citizen who has divorced or annulled a marriage at a competent foreign authority, a copy of the civil status extract noting the divorce or annulment in the records as prescribed in Clause 2 Article 36 of Decree 123/2015/ND-CP must be submitted; if they are officials and public employees or serving in the armed forces, a document from the managing agency or unit confirming that their marriage to a foreigner does not violate sector regulations must also be submitted.

4. Submission Method:

Submit in person. Specifically: When registering for marriage, both male and female parties must be present at the headquarters of the People’s Committee, the official handling civil status matters will ask the opinions of both parties, if both parties voluntarily marry, the marriage will be recorded in the Civil Status Register, and both parties will sign the Civil Status Register. Both male and female parties will sign the Marriage Certificate.

5. Resolving Agency:

The District-level People's Committee where one of the parties resides in Vietnam shall perform the marriage registration.

6. Processing Time:

- Within 10 working days from the date of receipt of complete and valid dossiers, the Justice Department shall study, verify, and if necessary, conduct verification of the dossier. The Head of the Justice Department shall be responsible for the verification results and the proposal of the Justice Department in resolving the marriage registration dossier.

- If the dossier is valid and both parties meet the marriage conditions prescribed by the Law on Marriage and Family, and it is not a case of refusal to register for marriage, the Justice Department shall report to the President of the District-level People's Committee to sign 02 original copies of the Marriage Certificate.

- Within 03 working days from the date the President of the District-level People's Committee signs the Marriage Certificate, the Justice Department shall organize the delivery of the Marriage Certificate to both male and female parties.

7. Fees:

According to Article 3 of Circular 85/2019/TT-BTC, civil status fees are included in the list of fees under the authority of the Provincial-level People's Council, thus the fee amount will be issued by the Provincial-level People's Councils.

- For example: The marriage registration fee at the District People's Committee in Ho Chi Minh City is 1,000,000 VND (Resolution 124/2016/NQ-HDND).

=> The above are the procedures for registering a marriage with a foreigner within the country.

We hereby respond with this information to you.

Sincerely!