Vietnam: How are issued household registration books when the Residence Law 2020 takes effect?

According to Clause 3 Article 22 of the Residence Law 2020 of Vietnam, procedure for permanent residence registration is guided as follows:

Within 07 working days starting from the date of receipt of an adequate and valid application, the registration authority shall appraise and update information on the new permanent residence of the applicant to the residence database and notify the applicant of such update; and provide a written explanation for the applicant if the application is rejected.

Currently, according to Clause 3 Article 21 of the Residence Law 2006 of Vietnam:

3. Within fifteen days after the receipt of complete dossiers, the competent agencies defined in Clause 1 of this Article shall grant household registration books to permanent residence registration dossier submitters; in case of refusal to grant, they shall give written replies clearly stating the reasons therefor.

Concurrently, according to Clause 4 Article 3 of the Residence Law 2020 of Vietnam, information on residence shall be updated to the national population database and residence database as prescribed by law; at a point in time, a citizen shall have only one permanent residence and may have one temporary residence.

Thus, from July 01, 2021, after receiving a complete and valid dossier, the residence registration agency will update information about the new place of residence into the residence database instead of issuing a household registration book to the registrant as at present.

So the question is, what will happen to the paper household registration that was issued before July 01, 2021 when the Residence Law 2020 officially takes effect?

To solve this problem, provisions of Clause 3 Article 38 of the Residence Law 2020 of Vietnam guide as follows:

3. Starting from the date on which this Law comes into force, issued household registration books and temporary residence registers may continue to be used and are equivalent to written confirmations of residence per this Law until December 31, 2022 inclusive.

In cases where information in a household registration book or temporary residence register differs from information in the residence database, the latter shall be used.

When a citizen carries out a residence registration procedure that changes information in their household registration book or temporary residence register, the registration authority shall revoke the issued household registration book or temporary residence register, update information in the residence database in compliance with regulations of this Law and not issue a new household registration book or temporary residence register or reissue the old household registration book or temporary residence register to the citizen.

In short, the paper household registration that citizens are granted will continue to be used until the end of December 31, 2022. In case a citizen changes information in the household registration book, the residence registration agency will revoke the household registration book and adjust the information in the residence database and not issue or re-issue the household registration book.

Thuy Tram

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