What is the validity of birth certificate in Vietnam?

What is the validity of birth certificate in Vietnam? (Internet image)

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

1. What is the validity of birth certificate in Vietnam?

According to Article 6 of Decree 123/2015/ND-CP, the validity of birth certificate is as follows:

- Birth certificate is an original document on civil status of an individual.

- All documents of an individual containing full name, date of birth, race, nationality, native place, parent-child relationship shall be consistent with his/her birth certificate.

- If an individual’s document contains information different from his/her birth certificate, the head of agency that has managed or issued such document shall make appropriate amendments in accordance with the birth certificate.

2. Birth registration contents in Vietnam

Pursuant to Article 14 of the Law on Civil Status 2014, birth registration contents are as follows:

- Birth registration contents include:

+ Information of the person whose birth is registered: family name, middle name and first name; gender; birthdate; birthplace; native place; ethnicity; and citizenship;

+ Information of the parents of the person whose birth is registered: full name, middle name and first name; year of birth; ethnicity; citizenship; and place of residence;

+ The personal identification number of the person whose birth is registered.

- The determination of citizenship, ethnicity and family name of a person whose birth is registered must comply with the law on Vietnamese nationality and civil law.

- Contents of birth registration specified in Clause 1 of Article 14 of the Law on Civil Status 2014 are basic civil status information of individuals and shall be recorded in the civil status books and birth certificates and updated in the electronic civil status database and national population database. Dossiers and papers of individuals related to birth registration information must be consistent with their birth registration contents.

The Government shall stipulate the grant of personal identification numbers to persons whose birth is registered.

3. Birth registration responsibility in Vietnam

Article 15 of the Law on Civil Status 2014 stipulates the birth registration responsibility as follows:

- Within 60 days after the birth of their child, the father or mother shall register the child’s birth; if the parents are unable to register their child’s birth, the grandfather or grandmother or another relative or the individual or organization that is nurturing the child shall register his/her birth.

- Justice and civil status officers shall regularly examine and urge the birth registration for children in their localities within the prescribed time limit; in case of necessity, mobile birth registration may be made.

4. Birth registration procedures in Vietnam

Birth registration procedures are specified in Article 16 of the Law on Civil Status 2014 as follows:

- Birth registrants shall submit declarations made according to a set form and birth certification papers to the civil status registration agency

. If having no birth certification paper, a document of a witness certifying the birth shall be submitted; if there is no witness, there must be a written pledge of the birth; for birth registration for abandoned children, there must be a written record certifying the child’s abandonment made by a competent agency; for birth registration for children born by surrogate mothers, there must be a document proving the surrogacy as prescribed by law.

- Immediately after receiving full papers specified in Clause 1 of Article 16 of the Law on Civil Status 2014, if seeing that the birth declaration is complete and proper, justice and civil status officers shall record birth registration contents under Clause 1, Article 14 of the Law on Civil Status 2014 in the civil status books and update them in the electronic civil status database and the national population database for getting personal identification numbers.

Justice and civil status officers and birth registrants shall together sign in the civil status books. Chairpersons of commune-level People's Committees shall grant birth certificates to birth registrants.

- The Government shall stipulate in detail the birth registration for abandoned children and children whose parents have not yet been identified due to surrogacy; and the determination of native places for abandoned children and children with unidentified parents.

Ho Quoc Tuan

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