Right to freedom of religion and folk belief for foreigners residing lawfully in Vietnam

According to the Ordinance on belief and religious activities: Citizens have the right to belief and religious freedom, following or not following any religion. All religions are equal before law. The State guarantees citizens' right to belief and religious freedom. Nobody can infringe upon such freedom right. This is an inalienable right enshrined in the current Constitution.

Recently, at the first full-time meeting of the National Assembly deputies of the XIV National Assembly, the National Assembly Standing Committee included the Law on Belief and Religion in the 2016 law-making program. Thereby, focus on exchanging, discussing and commenting on a number of important issues in the Draft Law on Belief and Religion. The Draft Law has affirmed and concretized the content of people's right to freedom of belief and religion, including the right to freedom of belief and religion of individuals, organizations and foreigners lawfully residing in Vietnam.

According to this Law, the government of Vietnam respects and protects the right to freedom of religion and folk belief of the foreigners who reside lawfully in Vietnam. Specifically, foreigners residing lawfully in Vietnam have the right to:

- Practice religion, practice folk beliefs and participate in religious activities;

- Practice religion en masse at legitimate locations; 

- Invite Vietnamese dignitaries, sub-dignitaries and monastics to perform religious rites and preach; invite foreign dignitaries and monastics to deliver sermon;

- Pursue a monastic life in religious establishments, pursue education in religious educational institutions and attend supplementary courses in religious establishments in Vietnam;

- Carry religious publications and articles to practice religion pursuant to the laws of Vietnam.

In their religious activities, foreigners are allowed to conduct religious activities at religious establishments or other lawful places like Vietnamese religious followers. If a foreigner needs to gather for private religious activities at a religious establishment or at another lawful place in Vietnam, they can send the application file to the provincial-level People's Committee of the place where the religious activities are concentrated for permission.

Concurrently, foreigners who attend a religious training school in Vietnam must have full civil act capacity and comply with regulations on entry and exit and other relevant legal regulations, as recommended by the religious training institution.

The Draft Law is being organized by the Drafting Committee, collecting opinions on the principles of ethnicity, rule of law and international law.

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