Regulations on residence in land border areas in Vietnam

Regulations on residence in land border areas in Vietnam (Internet image)

1. What is the land border area?

According to Clause 1, Article 3 of Decree 34/2014/ND-CP,  land border areas of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (below referred to as land border areas) include communes, wards and townships (below referred to as communes) which have part of their administrative boundaries overlapping the national land borderline.

2. Regulations on residence in land border areas in Vietnam

2.1. Cases residing in land border areas

According to Clause 1, Article 5 of Decree 34/2014/ND-CP, persons allowed to reside in land border areas:

- Border inhabitants;

- Persons who have permits of competent public security agencies for residence in land border areas;

- Officers, professional army men, defense officials, defense workers and employees, non-commissioned officers, soldiers of the People’s Army; officers, workers, employees and professional and technical non-commissioned officers of the People’s Public Security Force whose units are stationed in land border areas.

2.2. Cases of not allowed to reside in land border areas

Specifically, in Clause 2, Article 5 of Decree 34/2014/ND-CP, people who are not allowed to reside in land border areas are as follows:

(i) Persons banned from residing in land border areas under decisions of competent agencies, persons not yet permitted to exit or persons suspended from exit;

(ii) Persons banned from traveling outside their places of residence by procedure- conducting agencies;

(iii) Persons sentenced to imprisonment, against whom judgment execution decisions are not yet issued, serving suspended sentences; or permitted to postpone or suspend the serving of imprisonment sentences; persons under probation;

(iv) Persons subject to the measure of education in communes, wards or townships; consignment into reformatories, compulsory education establishments or compulsory detoxification establishments but permitted to postpone the execution of such measure or against whom enforcement of such measure is suspended.

(v) Persons other than those specified in Section 2.1

The subjects specified in (i), (ii), (iii), (iv) do not apply to border residents.

3. Areas subject to and cases of suspension in Vietnam

Areas subject to and cases of suspension:

- Areas in which a border or territory dispute occurs, threatening the sovereignty and security of the national border;

- Areas in which an armed conflict, robbery, terrorist action, riot, intrusion, kidnapping or serious security and order disturbance occurs;

- Areas in which a natural disaster, mishap, epidemic, chemical or radioactive incident occurs, threatening to cause damage to the community or cross-border transmission;

- Upon receipt of notices of the Government, local administrations or border-guard forces of neighbor countries on suspension of traveling across the border.

(Clause 1, Article 10 of Decree 34/2014/ND-CP)

4. Prohibited acts in land border areas in Vietnam

According to Article 4 of Decree 34/2014/ND-CP, prohibited acts in land border areas are prescribed as follows:

- Damaging, destroying, moving, or causing loss of, landmarks or signs to identify the borderline; “border area”, “border belt” and “restricted zone” signboards; and border works.

- Changing the natural flow, exhausting water sources of, causing inundation, flooding or environmental pollution in, border rivers and streams.

- Illegally inhabiting, exploiting forest products, exploring and exploiting minerals and aquatic resources.

- Traveling across the border for field or terrace field farming, hunting or cattle grazing.

- Burying corpses, removing graves; transporting corpses, remains, animals, plants and animal carcasses across the border without permission of competent Vietnamese state agencies.

- Making gunshots across the border, causing explosions, cutting and burning trees for land reclamation in the border belt.

- Shooting films, taking photos, recording sounds, surveying or drawing landscapes at places where ban signs are displayed in land border areas.

- Smuggling, illegally transporting goods across the border, committing trade frauds.

- Other prohibited acts prescribed by Vietnamese law and agreements 

Thanh Rin

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