Order of procedure

- The applicant submits the application dossier for death certificate to the People's Committee of the relevant competent district.

- The civil status officer (referred to the receiver) immediately checks all the application dossier by verifying the information in the declaration forms and reviewing the validity of the papers or documents in the application dossier.

- If the application dossier is completed and eligible, the receiver shall write a receipt form which should clearly state the date and time for returning the result; if the application dossier is not completed, the receiver shall have to guide the applicant to supplement the documents to complete the dossier as regulated; in case it is impossible to supplement and complete the dossier right away, the applicant should be provided with the guidelines in a written form that clearly states the type of papers, documents or the contents needed to be supplemented with full name and signature of the receiver.

- If the application dossier for death certificate has not been supplemented or completed after being guided as regulated, the public official shall refuse such dossier. The refusal of the application dossier for death certificate shall be written in text, clearly stating the reasons for the refusal with full name of the receiver.

- Right after receiving the application dossier, if such application is found to be valid and completed, the Justice Division shall report to and ask for the approval of the Chairman of the district-level people’s committee. If the Chairman of the district-level People’s Committee agrees to process the application, the Chairman shall sign to issue the Death Certificate to the applicant. The civil status officer shall record such information in the death registration book with the signatory of the civil status and the applicant.

- After completing the process of the application for death certificate, the Justice Division shall report to the Chairman of the district-level People's Committees to release a written announcement, enclosed the Death certificate (copies) to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for notifying the competent authority of the country where the deceased person  is a citizen.

* Notes:

+ In case the applicant submits a paper which is a copy issued from the original book or certified copy of the original, the civil status officer shall not require the applicant to show the originals; if the applicant submits only the copies with the present of the originals, the civil status officer shall compare the copies to the originals and then sign the copies to confirm the comparison of the contents of both types of documents without asking the applicant for the certified copies of such documents.

+ If it is required to present the papers by law when applying for civil status, the civil status officer shall have to check the papers, compare them with the information in the declaration forms and return them to the applicant without asking the applicant for submitting a copy of such documents. The civil status officer may take one copy of the presented documents or write down the information of the submitted paper for filing.

+ Papers issued, notarized or certified by foreign competent agencies for the use in civil status registration in Viet Nam must have apostille certification, except for cases from countries which have signed the international Apostille Convention with Viet Nam as a member; the documents in a foreign language must be provided with a notarized or certified Vietnamese translation as prescribed by law.

+ The civil status officer should fully accept the eligible and completed application dossier according to the provisions of the law without requiring the applicant to submit any other types of documents that are not included in the regulations on the required documents.  

How to apply:  

- The applicant who directly sumits the application for death certificate may perform the application for death certificate or authorize another person to do it.

- The applicant may submit the application dossier for death certificate in person to the People’s Committee of the relevant  competent district or send it by post.

Dossier Components:

* Documents to be presented

- Passport or identity card or other type of valid papers affixed with photos and personal information issued by the competent agencies to prove the identification of the applicant who applies for death certificate;

- Documents proving the final residence of the deceased person to determine the authority (during the time when the National Database on Population and the National E-Citizens Database have not been completedly built and implemented nationwide); ff the deceased person's residence can not be identified, it is required to show a document proving where he/she died or where the body of the deceased person was discovered.

In case the application dossier is submitted by post, it is required to enclose with the certified copies of the above documents.

* Documents to be submitted

- Death Application Form;

- Death Notice or any alternative documents issued by a competent authority.

- A written authorization in accordance with the law in case of authorization to applying for the death certificate.

 Number of dossiers: 01 set (of dossier)

Processing time: On the day of accepting the application dossier; if the application dossier can not be processed after 15 hours of being received by the civil status officer, the results shall be returned within the following working day. In case the verification is needed, the processing time shall not exceed three (3) working days.

Applicant of the administrative procedures: Individual.

Competent governmental agencies:

- The district-level People’s Committee which is the last residence of the deceased person shall process the application for death certificate for a foreigner or overseas Vietnamese citizen who died in Viet Nam. 

- The district-level People’s Committee where such person died or the deceased’s body was discovered shall process the death registration in case the deceased person’s residence can not be identified.

Agencies implementing the administrative procedures:

The district-level Justice Division shall receive the application dossier and process to ask the Chairman of the district-level People's Committees for the consideration and decision.

Coordinating agencies: None.

Results of the applied administrative procedure: Death Certificate

Fees:  VND75.000

Exemption of fees of the application for civil status registration for the members of families with meritorious services to the revolution; members of the poor households; people with disabilities.

(Clause No.2 of the Article No.1 in the Decision No.123/2016/QĐ-UBND dated 20 December 2016 by Lao Cai provincial People’s Committee)

Samples of Declaration forms: Death Application Form

Legal bases:

- Civil Status Law in 2014;

- Decree No.123/2015/NĐ-CP dated 15 November 2015 by the Government regulating  a number of articles and measures for the implementation of the Civil Status Law;

- Circular No.15/2015/TT-BTP dated 16 November 2015 by the Ministry of Justice guiding the implementation of a number of articles in the Civil Status Law and the Decree No.123/2015/NĐ-CP dated 15 November 2015 by the Government regulating  a number of articles and measures for the implementation of the Civil Status Law;

- Decision No.123/2016/QĐ-UBND dated 20 December 2016 by Lao cai provincial People’s Committee  regulating the rates (fees) of civil status registration  and its management and use in Lao Cai province./.