What to Know About Regular Passports

1. Passport Validity

- Passports issued to citizens aged 14 and older: Valid for 10 years;

- Passports issued separately to children under 14 years old: Valid for 5 years;

- Passports issued jointly to Vietnamese citizens and their children (under 09 years old): Valid for 5 years.

2. Place to Submit Application for Issuance, Amendment, Supplementation of Passport and Receive Results:

Citizens can apply for issuance, amendment, or supplementation of passports at their place of permanent or temporary residence; through postal enterprises; entrust to agencies, organizations, enterprises or through the electronic system of the Immigration Management Authority.

♦ Submit directly and receive results at:

+ New passport issuance: Immigration Management Office of the Provincial/Municipal Police Department where the permanent or temporary residence is located;

+ Reissuance, amendment, or supplementation of a passport: Immigration Management Office of the Provincial/Municipal Police Department where the permanent residence or temporary residence is located, or the Immigration Management Department under the Ministry of Public Security.

♦ In case of passport reissuance, applications can be submitted via postal routes and results can be received at the registered address with the postal enterprise. Except in cases of passport reissuance application for children under 14 years old.

♦ In emergency cases, applications for passports can be submitted directly, and results received at the Immigration Management Department, such as:

+ Individuals needing to travel abroad for medical treatment with a hospital referral letter;

+ Individuals with immediate family members abroad suffering accidents, illnesses, or death requiring urgent travel to resolve, with proof of these circumstances;

+ Officials and public employees, officers, non-commissioned officers, workers in the People's Army and People's Public Security with urgent exit requirements, with a written request from the head of the agency or organization where they are employed;

+ Other urgent cases grounded enough for the Director of the Immigration Management Department to consider and decide.

♦ Submit through the electronic system of the Immigration Management Authority: At https://www.vnimm.gov.vn to fill out the electronic form according to Form X01, within 10 days from the date of filling out the information on the web, the applicant must submit the application directly at the Immigration Management Authority.

3. Application for Issuance, Amendment, Supplementation of Passport

- 01 declaration form X01 (issued together with Circular 29/2016/TT-BCA)

- 02 recent photos (4cm x 6cm) looking straight, bareheaded, without colored glasses, with a white background. Children under 09 years old included in a parent’s passport should submit 02 photos of 3cm x 4cm;

- 01 copy or certified photocopy of the birth certificate for children under 14 years old, if not certified, the original must be presented for verification.

- Present a valid ID card or citizen identification card for verification.

Applications submitted at the Immigration Management Office of the place of temporary residence must present additional temporary residence book.

In addition to the above documents, depending on the applicant, citizens must provide additional documents such as the old passport (in case of reissuance amendment), a report on loss of passport...

4. Passport Issuance Fees

- New issuance: 200,000 VND

- Reissuance due to damage or loss: 400,000 VND

5. Common Administrative Violations Related to Passports

To avoid unexpected administrative fines related to passports, citizens should note common violations subject to penalties as follows:

- Fines ranging from 500,000 VND to 2 million VND for acts of:

+ Losing, damaging passports without timely reporting to the competent authority;

+ Erasing, altering, or misrepresenting the form or content recorded in passports;

+ Providing false information to obtain passports; using invalid passports for entry, exit;

- Fines ranging from 2 million VND to 5 million VND for acts of allowing others to use their passports;

- Fines ranging from 5 million VND to 10 million VND for acts of using fake passports for exit, entry, or transit.

Legal Basis:

- Circular 29/2016/TT-BCA guiding the issuance, amendment, supplementation of ordinary passports in the country to Vietnamese citizens;

- Decree 136/2007/ND-CP on the exit and entry of Vietnamese citizens;

- Circular 219/2016/TT-BTC stipulating the rates, collection, remittance, management, and use of fees in the field of exit, entry, transit, residence;

- Article 20 Decree 73/2010/ND-CP on administrative penalties in the field of security and order, public safety.

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