Instructions on civil registrations at overseas Vietnamese representative agencies as of February 15, 2024

Instructions on civil registrations at overseas Vietnamese representative agencies as of February 15, 2024 (Internet image)

Regarding this issue, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

On December 29, 2023, the Minister of Foreign Affairs issued Circular 07/2023/TT-BNG guiding the registration and management of civil status at diplomatic missions and consular missions of Vietnam. in another country.

1. Power to receive civil registrations at overseas Vietnamese representative agencies as of February 15, 2024

The power to receive civil registrations is prescribed as follows: 

-  Representative missions shall receive registrations of vital events as referred to in Article 3 of the Law on Civil Status 2014, re-registrations of births, marriages and death;

Issue civil status record extract copies from civil status registers or electronic civil status database;

Issue marital status certificates to Vietnamese citizens residing abroad in accordance with Vietnamese laws, laws of receiving countries and international treaties to which Vietnam is a signatory.

- In countries where two or more representative missions of Vietnam are situated, the representative mission in consular region where the applicant resides shall have the power to receive civil registrations.

- In countries or territories where representative missions are not available, the civil registration shall be carried out at non-resident or convenient representative missions.

(Article 2 of Circular 07/2023/TT-BNG)

2. Submission, receipt of applications for civil registration and giving of civil registration results at overseas Vietnamese representative agencies as of February 15, 2024

Pursuant to Article 4 of Circular 07/2023/TT-BNG, regulations on the submission, receipt of applications for civil registration and giving of civil registration results are as follows:

The submission, receipt applications for civil registration and giving of civil registration results by representative missions shall be governed by regulations in Article 3 of Decree 123/2015/ND-CP, Article 12 of Decree 87/2020/ND-CP, Articles 2, 3, 4, 5 of Circular 04/2020/TT-BTP and the following guidelines:

- An application for civil registration may be submitted in person or by post or via the online civil registration system.

- When requesting a representative mission to handle procedures for civil registration, the applicant must present the original of any of the following documents: passport or passport substitute, ID card, Citizen Identity Card or other unexpired documents with photo and personal information issued by competent authorities (hereinafter referred to as identity papers) to prove his/her identity, and document(s) proving his/her residence in the host country (if any).

The representative mission shall check, make a photocopy and certify that photocopy after having compared it with the original thereof for archiving. If the application for civil registration is submitted by post, certified copies of the said documents shall be submitted.

If the applicant is a Vietnamese citizen and is granted with ID card with a personal identification number (PIN), the applicant may present the original of such card in person or the photocopy of such card by post or via the online civil registration system to prove his/her identity when the technical infrastructure allows the representative mission to connect to the National Population Database

- Representative missions shall receive and process requests for online civil registration in accordance with the capacity to provide online public services and the synchronous use of the shared electronic civil registration and management software at such representative missions. If online civil registration is not available, representative missions shall post notifications on their web portals or send written notifications with clear explanation to their applicants via email (if any).

- Documents issued by competent authorities of a host country to use for carrying out civil registration procedures with representative missions do not require consular legalization. If the authenticity of a document is doubted, that document must obtain consular legalization by a competent authority.

Documents issued by competent authorities of a third country to serve the civil registration carried out at representative missions must obtain consular legalization in accordance with regulations.

Documents in foreign languages included in the applications for civil registration must be translated into Vietnamese or English. The translation must be notarized or have the translators’ signatures certified as regulated by law.

- When giving of civil registration results, if applicants wish to receive the results in person, the givers shall guide the applicants to check contents on the vital records and civil status registers.

If applicants find the contents of such civil status documents or registers correct and consistent with the applications for civil registration, they shall sign and clearly state their full names in the civil status registers; if the results are sent by post or via online public service systems, signatures are not required, unless otherwise prescribed in Clause 6 of Article 4 of Circular 07/2023/TT-BNG.

- Regarding the following vital events, applicants shall be present at representative missions to put their signatures to civil status registers and receive results of registering birth, marry and guardian; recognizing father, mother, child; changing and correcting civil status, re-determining ethnicity, supplementing civil status information; declaring death.

Regarding other vital events, applicants may choose to receive results in one of the methods prescribed in Clause 4 Article 12 of Decree 87/2020/ND-CP.

If the applicants wish to receive their results by post, they shall prepare envelopes with their addresses, stamps or return postage.

Nguyen Ngoc Que Anh

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