Order of Procedure

- The applicant submits the application dossier for recording civil status-related incidents including birth certificate; guardianship; reclamation of parents, children; adoption of children; registration of death; changes of civil status registration processed by relevant foreign authorities (hereafter referred to Annotation of Changes of Civil Status Registration Involving Foreigners) in the Civil Status Registration Book  to the People's Committee of the relevant competent district.

- The receiver (the civil status officer) shall have to immediately check all application dossier and determine the validity of the papers in the dossiers submitted or presented by the applicant; to compare the information in the Declaration with the 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 need to be supplemented with full name and signature of the receiver.

 - If the application dossier for annotation of changes of civil status registration involving foreigners has not been supplemented or completed after being guided as regulated, the civil status officer shall refuse such dossier. The refusal of the birth application dossier shall be written in text, clearly stating the reasons for the refusal with full name of the receiver.

- If the application dossier for annotation of changes of civil status registration involving foreigners fully meets the conditions and provisions of the law, the Justice Division shall report to and ask for the approval of the Chairman of the people’s committee of the district. In case the Chairman of the district-level People’s Committee agrees to process the application, the Chairman shall sign to issue the Annotation of the relevant changes of civil status registration to the applicant; the civil status officer shall record such information in the Civil Status Registration Book.

* 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 the 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.

 How to apply:

- The applicant may apply for the Annotation of Changes of Civil Status Registration involving foreigners in person or authorize other person to apply for it;

- The applicant may submit the application dossier for the Annotation of Changes of Civil Status Registration involving foreigners 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 relevant authorities to prove the identification of the applicant for the Annotation of Changes of Civil Status Registration Involving Foreigners; 

- Documents proving the residence to determine jurisdiction for issuing the annotation of changes of civil status registration involving foreigners (during the time when the National Database on Population and the National E-Civil Status Database have not been completely built and implemented nationwide).

In case the application dossier is sent by post, it must be enclosed with the certified copies of the above must-present-papers.

* Documents to be submitted

- Application Form as regulated.

- Certified copy of documents certifying the civil status registration which was processed by relevant foreign authorities.

- The written agreement on the selection of Vietnamese nationality for the children of fathers, mothers for cases where the applicant for recording in the civil registration book the birth certificate of a child whose father or mother is Vietnamese citizen while the other is a foreigner; and for cases where the Birth Certificate and international travel documents issued by relevant foreign authorities without stating the nationality of the child.

- Authorization letter in accordance with the provisions of law in the case of authorization of the application for Annotation . In case the authorized person is the grandfather, grandmother, father, mother, child, spouse or sibling of the authorizing person, the authorization letter must not be notarized or authenticated, but it is required to provide with the documents certifying the relationship with the authorizing person.

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 People’s Committee of the district which is the residential address of the Vietnamese applicant shall record in the Civil Status Registration Book the civil status-related incidents including: Birth certificate; guardianship; reclamation of parents and children; adoption of children; changes of civil status registration processed by relevant foreign authorities.

- The district-level People's Committee at the place of residence of the person in charge of death registration shall record in the Civil Status Registration Book the registration of death which has been processed by relevant foreign authorities.

Agencies implementing the administrative procedures:

The district-level Justice Division shall receive the application dossier and proceed 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: Annotation of Birth Certificate/Changes of Civil Status Registration in the Civil Status Registration Book.

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.

Samples of Declaration forms: Application Form of BirthRegistration in Civil Status Book; Application Form of Death Registration inCivil Status Book; Application Form of Adoption of Children in Civil StatusBook; Application Form for the Annotation of guardianship, reclamation of parentsand children; Application Form for Annotation of Changes of Civil Status

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.