MINISTRY OF
JUSTICE
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SOCIALIST
REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM
Independence - Freedom – Happiness
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No. 1844/VBHN-BTP
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Hanoi, May 11,
2023
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CIRCULAR
ELABORATING
CERTAIN ARTICLES OF LAW ON CIVIL STATUS AND GOVERNMENT’S DECREE NO.
123/2015/ND-CP DATED NOVEMBER 15, 2015 PROVIDING DETAILED REGULATIONS ON CERTAIN
ARTICLES AND MEASURES TO IMPLEMENT THE LAW ON CIVIL STATUS
Circular No. 04/2020/TT-BTP
dated May 28, 2020 of the Minister of Justice elaborating a number of Articles
of Law on Civil Status and the Government’s Decree No. 123/2015/ND-CP dated
November 15, 2015 on guidelines for Law on Civil Status, which comes into force
from July 16, 2020, is amended by:
Circular No. 09/2022/TT-BTP
dated December 30, 2022 of the Minister of Justice on annulment of a number of
contents of Circulars in the fields of legal aid and civil status promulgated
by the Minister of Justice, which comes into force from January 01, 2023.
Pursuant to the Law on Civil
Status No. 60/2014/QH13 dated November 20, 2014;
Pursuant to the Government's
Decree No. 123/2015/ND-CP dated November 15, 2015 on guidelines for Law on
Civil Status;
Pursuant to the Government’s
Decree No. 96/2017/ND-CP dated August 16, 2017 on functions, duties, powers and
organizational structure of the Ministry of Justice;
At the request of the
Director General of the Civil Status, Citizenship and Notarization Department;
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Chapter I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1. Scope
This Circular elaborates a
number of Articles of the Law on Civil Status and the Government’s Decree No.
123/2015/ND-CP dated November 15, 2015 on guidelines for the Law on Civil Status
(hereinafter referred to as “Decree No. 123/2015/ND-CP”) regarding
authorization of civil registration; receipt of applications for civil
registration and announcement of results thereof; procedures for birth
registration, marriage registration, death registration, recognition of
parent-child relationship and registration of some other vital events; mobile
birth registration, marriage registration and death registration; issuance and
guidelines on use and management of civil registers and civil status documents.
Article 2. Authorization of
civil registration
1. An applicant for issuance of
a copy of a civil status extract, issuance of a marital status certificate or
registration of a vital event listed in Article 3 of the Law on Civil Status
(hereinafter collectively referred to as “civil registration application”) may
authorize another person to carry out such application; excluding marriage
registration, marriage re-registration and recognition of parent-child
relationship, which may not be authorized but one party may submit an
application to the competent civil registration authority without a written
authorization from the other party.
Authorization must be granted
in writing and certified as per the law. Such certification is not
required if the authorized person is a biological sibling, grandparent, parent,
child or spouse of the authorizing person.
2. In case the applicant for
registration of the birth of a child is the a grandparent or another relative
of the child according to regulations in Clause 1 Article 15 of the Law on
Civil Status, the authorization letter from the child’s parent(s) is not
required but the child’s parent(s) must agree on the contents of the birth
certificate.
Article 3. Receipt of
applications for civil registration and announcement of results thereof
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In case the applicant cannot
revise the application immediately, the recipient shall draw up an
instructional document specifying the documents/contents needing to be added
and put the recipient’s signature and full name to the document.
2. The recipient shall receive
civil registration applications that contain only the contents required by laws
on civil status and shall not request civil registration applicants to submit
documents not required by laws on civil status.
3. Civil registration
applicants may submit certified copies or copies issued from the master
registers (hereinafter referred to as “copies”) or photocopies together with
their authentic copies for comparison. In case an applicant submits a photocopy
together with its authentic copy, the application recipient shall inspect and compare
the photocopy with its authentic copy and countersign and shall not request the
applicant to submit a copy.
For documents presented for
civil registration, the recipient shall inspect and compare them with
information in the application, photograph or record information for retention
purpose and return the documents to the person presenting them, and shall not
request copies or photographs of such documents to be submitted.
4. When announcing the civil
registration result, the announcer shall instruct the applicant to check the
contents of the civil status document and civil register.
When the applicant deems the
contents correct and consistent with the application, they shall put their
signature and full name to the civil register according to the announcer’s
instructions.
5. Both the man and woman must
be present upon announcement of the marriage registration or re-registration
result; both the parent and child must be present upon announcement of the
result of recognition of parent-child relationship.
Article 4. Resolution of
civil registration applications without proof
In case a civil registration
application requires proof according to regulations in Clause 4 Article 22,
Clause 2 Article 26 and Clause 2 Article 27 of Decree No. 123/2015/ND-CP and
Clause 4 Article 9 and Clause 1 Article 12 of this Circular, if there is no
reply to the request for proof 20 days after the date on which the request is
sent, the civil registration authority shall continue to process the
application as per regulations. In case proof of marital status is required,
the applicant may submit a written confirmation of their marital status to
apply for a marital status certificate as per regulations in Article 5 of this
Circular.
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1. If the civil registration
applicant is permitted to draw up a written confirmation of the accuracy of the
contents in their application, the civil registration authority must explain
the responsibilities and consequences arising from untruthful confirmations to
the person drawing up the confirmation.
2. The civil registration
authority may refuse to process a civil registration application or request the
competent authority to annul the result of a civil registration application if
there are grounds to confirm that the confirmation is untruthful.
Chapter II
GUIDELINES ON REGISTRATION OF SOME VITAL EVENTS
Section 1. BIRTH
REGISTRATION
Article 6. Contents of birth
registration
Contents of birth registration
are provided for by regulations in Clause 1 Article 14 of the Law on Civil
Status, Clause 1 Article 4 of Decree No. 123/2015/ND-CP and the following
guidelines:
1. The last name, ethnicity and
full name of the child must be determined in compliance with regulations of laws
and in a manner that honors national identity and fine traditions and customs
of Vietnam; the name shall not be too long or hard to use.
2. In case the parents fail to
reach an agreement on the last name, ethnicity and native place of their child
upon birth registration, the last name, ethnicity and native place of the child
shall be determined according to customs but the child must take on the last
name, ethnicity and native place of the mother or the father.
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1. The contents of a birth
registration application for a child born overseas to a Vietnamese father or
mother or to Vietnamese father and mother, having no overseas birth
registration and residing in Vietnam is provided for by regulations in Article
29 of Decree No. 123/2015/ND-CP and the following guidelines:
a) Documentary evidences of the
child’s lawful entry into Vietnam and residence in Vietnam per regulations in
Clause 2 Article 29 of Decree No. 123/2015/ND-CP , including a documentary
evidence of the child’s lawful entry into Vietnam (such as passport, documents
enabling international travel bearing an entry stamp from an immigration
authority) and a written confirmation from the competent public security
authority that the child is living in Vietnam.
b) The child’s Vietnamese
citizenship shall be determined as prescribed in Vietnam's laws on citizenship
upon birth registration.
2. In case the child’s parent
chooses a foreign citizenship for the child upon birth registration, besides the
written consent to such choosing, a confirmation that such choosing conforms to
the foreign country's law from the competent authority of the foreign country
is required. If there is no confirmation from the competent foreign
authority, the civil registration authority shall register the child’s birth
but leave the nationality section in the birth certificate and birth register
blank.
Article 8. Birth
registration for persons possessing personal documents
1. Each commune-level People’s
Committee shall handle birth registration of Vietnamese citizens living in its
commune and born before January 01, 2016 with no birth registration but
possessing personal documents (authentic copies or legitimate copies) such as
identity documents provided for in Clause 1 Article 2 of Decree No.
123/2015/ND-CP2; other documents issued by competent Vietnamese
authorities and organizations.
2. The People's Committee of
the district where an overseas Vietnamese lives before they go abroad shall
handle their birth registration if they have no birth registration and possess
the personal documents mentioned in Clause 1 herein and stating their place of
birth as Vietnam.
3. A birth registration
application for the cases provided for in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article shall
include a birth registration application, a confirmation that birth
registration has not been done; and the documents listed in Points b and c
Clause 1 Article 26 of Decree No. 123/2015/ND-CP.
Birth registration procedure
and contents are provided for in Clause 2, Clause 3 and Clause 5 Article 26 of
Decree No. 123/2015/ND-CP and Clauses 3 and 4 Article 9 and Article 10 of this
Circular.
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Documents providing bases for
birth re-registration mentioned in Point b Clause 1 Article 26 of Decree No.
123/2015/ND-CP include:
1. A copy of the birth
certificate lawfully issued by the competent Vietnamese authority.
2. The authentic copy or a copy
of a replacement of the birth certificate issued before 1945 in the North and
before 1975 in the South.
3. In case an applicant for
birth re-registration does not have the documents mentioned in Clause 1 and
Clause 2 of this Article, the following documents, lawfully issued by competent
Vietnamese authorities, may provide the bases for birth re-registration:
a) Identity card or passport;
b)3 Documentary
evidences of place of residence;
c) Degrees, certificates,
school report book, school records issued or confirmed by competent
authorities;
d) Other documents containing
full name and date of birth of the applicant.
The applicant shall submit
copies of all of the abovementioned documents (if any) and a confirmation that
they have submitted all available documents; and take responsibilities and
consequences arising if the confirmation is untruthful as per regulations in
Article 5 of this Circular.
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If the public security
authority has no information to provide, the civil registration authority shall
request the applicant to draw up a written confirmation of accuracy of
information on their parents according to regulations in Articles 4 and 5 of
this Circular and determine the birth registration contents based on such
confirmation.
Article 10. Determination of
birth re-registration contents
1. In case an applicant for
birth re-registration has the documents required according to Clause 4 Article
26 of Decree No. 123/2015/ND-CP and Clauses 1 and 2 Article 9 of this Circular,
the birth re-registration contents shall be determined based on such documents.
2. At the time of birth
re-registration, if there is any change to information on the applicant’s
parent or the applicant themselves contained in the documents mentioned in
Clause 1 herein, the applicant shall present valid documentary evidences of
such change. If such change complies with regulations of laws, birth
re-registration contents shall be determined based on the new information; and
the outdated information shall be written on the back of the birth certificate
and in the Remark section in the birth register.
If the mother or father of the
applicant has passed away, “Deceased” shall be written in the Place of
residence field in the birth register and birth certificate.
If the name of an
administrative location written in issued documents has changed, the current
name shall be used and the previous name shall be written on the back of the
birth certificate and in the Remark section of the birth register.
Section 2. MARRIAGE
REGISTRATION AND ISSUANCE OF MARITAL STATUS CERTIFICATE
Article 11. Marriage
registration involving foreign elements
1. Applications for marriage
registration shall be verified as per regulations in Clause 2 Article 38 of the
Law on Civil Status and Clause 1 Article 31 of Decree No. 123/2015/ND-CP as
follows:
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During the investigation and
verification process, if necessary, the district-level justice authority may
meet the parties in person to clarify their records, whether they enter into
the marriage voluntarily and the marriage purpose.
2. In case Vietnamese citizens
granted a residence permit by the competent foreign authority wish to marry
each other or marry Vietnamese citizens living in Vietnam, district-level
People's Committees have the competence in handling their marriage registration
as per Article 37 of the Law on Civil Status.
3. Documentary evidences of
marital status of foreigners must be issued by competent authorities of their
home countries.
Article 12. Issuance of
marital status certificate
Issuance of the marital status
certificate is provided for by regulations in Articles 21, 22 and 23 of Decree
No. 123/2015/ND-CP and the following guidelines:
1. If an applicant wishes to be
reissued with the marital status certificate to get married but could not
submit the old marital status certificate, the applicant shall provide the
reason they could not submit it. Within 03 working days from the date of
receipt of the application, the civil registration authority shall verify with
the authority of the locality where the applicant planned to register their
marriage in writing. If the civil registration authority could not verify
or receive the verification result, the civil registration authority shall
allow the applicant to draw up a confirmation of their marital status according
to regulations in Articles 4 and 5 herein.
2. The marital status
certificate shall remain valid until the time at which the marital status is
changed or for 06 months starting from the date of issuance, whichever comes
first.
Example: a marital status
certificate was issued on February 03, 2020 but, on February 10, 2020, the
certificate holder registered their marriage, so the certificate was only valid
until February 10, 2020.
3. In case an applicant wishes
to use the marital status certificate for marriage purpose, the civil
registration authority shall issue only one copy to the applicant. The marital
status certificate shall contain the full name, year of birth, nationality and
identity documents of the applicant, and the locality where the applicant plans
to register their marriage.
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This certificate is issued for
getting married to Mr. KIM JONG DOEK, born in 1970, South Korean citizen,
passport No. HQ12345 issued by the competent South Korean authority on February
02, 2020; at the premises of the competent South Korean authority in South
Korea.
4. In case an applicant wishes
to use the marital status certificate for a purpose besides marriage, the
applicant is not required to meet the marriage conditions; the marital status
certificate shall specify its use and that it may not be used for getting
married. The certificate shall be issued in the amount requested by the
applicant.
Example: this certificate is
issued for house selling procedures and may not be used for marriage
registration.
5. Civil registration
authorities may reject applications for marital status certificates that are to
be used for same-sex marriage or marriage to a foreigner on the premises of a
foreign representative mission in Vietnam.
Section 3. DEATH
REGISTRATION AND PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIP RECOGNITION
Article 13. Death
registration
Death registration is provided
for by Section 7 Chapter II of the Law on Civil Status and the following
guidelines:
1. The applicant for
registration of a death that happened a long time ago without a death notice or
an equivalent document per regulations in Clause 2 Article 4 of Decree No.
123/2015/ND-CP shall provide documents/evidences issued by the competent authority
or a valid confirmation of the death.
2. The civil registration
authority may reject death registration applications that do not include any
document or evidence required by Clause 1 of this Article or sufficient
documents or evidences.
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Proof of parent-child
relationship according to regulations in Clause 1 Article 25 and Clause 1
Article 44 of the Law on Civil Status includes one of the following documents:
1. Written confirmation
of the father-child or mother-child relationship from a competent domestic or
foreign regulatory body, organization, health authority or testing authority.
2. In case there is no proof of
the parent-child relationship per regulations in Clause 1 herein, the parent
and child shall draw up a confirmation of their parent-child relationship
according to regulations in Article 5 herein with at least 2 witness of their
parent-child relationship.
Article 15. Birth
registration in combination with parent-child relationship recognition
1. If a birth
registration is combined with parent-child relationship recognition, the
People’s Committee of the commune where the mother or father lives shall handle
the application.
If a birth registration is
combined with parent-child relationship recognition, the People’s Committee of
the commune where the mother or father lives shall handle the application.
2. An application for birth
registration in combination with parent-child relationship recognition consists
of:
a) A birth registration
application and an application for parent-child relationship recognition made
using the prescribed forms;
b) A certificate of live birth
or an equivalent document per regulations in Clause 1 Article 16 of the Law on
Civil Status;
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3. Commune-level People’s
Committees shall handle applications for birth registration in combination with
parent-child relationship recognition following the procedures prescribed in
Clauses 1 and 2 Article 16 and Article 25 of the Law on Civil Status; and
district-level People’s Committees shall handle applications for birth
registration in combination with parent-child relationship recognition
following the procedures prescribed in Clauses 1 and 2 Article 36 and Article
44 of the Law on Civil Status.
Contents of birth registration
shall be determined according to regulations in Clause 1 Article 4 of Decree
No. 123/2015/ND-CP and Article 6 of this Circular. The birth certificate and
extract of the parent-child relationship recognition document shall be issued
to the applicant concurrently.
Article 16. Parent-child
relationship recognition and civil status revision in some special cases
1. In case a man and a woman
cohabit and have a child without marriage registration and the child lives with
the father, if the father cannot contact the mother upon application for
father-child relationship recognition, the mother’s opinion may be excluded
from the application for father-child relationship recognition.
If the certificate of live
birth and personal documents of the mother are available, the mother field
shall be filled out based on the certificate of live birth and personal
documents of the mother. Otherwise, this field shall be filled out based on
information provided by the father; and the father shall take responsibility
for such information.
2. In case the wife gives birth
to a child before marriage registration, the birth is registered without the
father’s information and the couple have a document recognizing the child as
their common child, an application for civil status revision shall be submitted
instead of an application for father-child relationship recognition to add the
father’s information to the birth register and birth certificate of the child.
3. In case the wife gives birth
to a child before marriage registration without birth registration and, upon
birth registration, the couple has a document recognizing the child as their
common child, the father’s information shall be added to the child’s birth
certificate immediately without applying for father-child relationship
recognition.
Legal consequences and
liabilities arising from provision of untruthful information on the mother and
common child recognition document per Clauses 1, 2 and 3 of this Article are
provided for in Article 5 of this Circular.
4. People’s Courts shall decide
cases where the wife gives birth or is pregnant during the marriage period but
the wife or husband does not recognize the child as their common child or
another person wishes to recognize the child as their own as per the law.
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Section 4. CIVIL STATUS
INFORMATION REVISION, CORRECTION AND CHANGE
Article 17. Civil status
correction
1. Civil status shall be
changed only upon detection of a mistake in civil registration; contents of a
civil status document lawfully issued to officialize contents of another
personal document shall not be corrected.
2. A mistake in civil
registration must be attributed to the civil registration applicant or the
civil registration authority.
3. The regulatory body where a
death is registered has the power to correct death registration contents at the
request of the person responsible for registering the death according to
regulations in Article 33 of the Law on Civil Status.
Article 18. Civil status
information revision
1. Civil status documents
mentioned in Clause 2 Article 75 of the Law on Civil Status remain valid and do
not need to be revised based on the existing civil status forms.
2. Civil status documents
lawfully issued from January 01, 2016 may add missing civil status information
if there are proofs lawfully issued by competent authorities/organizations.
Vietnamese citizenship shall be
added to civil status documents issued from January 01, 2016 after it has been
confirmed that the applicant has Vietnamese citizenship as per regulations of
the Law on Vietnamese Citizenship.
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If there is no certificate of
live birth or written confirmation of the healthcare establishment, the date/
month of birth shall be determined as follows:
a) If the individual’s personal
documents have a consistent date/month of birth, this date/month shall be used.
If the individual’s personal
documents have no consistent date/month of birth, the date/month on the
document confirmed to be valid or issued first shall be chosen.
b) If the individual have no
personal document or their personal documents contain no date/month of birth,
they may draw up a confirmation of their date/month of birth according to
regulations in Article 5 of this Circular.
c) If the date and month of
birth could not be determined following the guidelines in Points a and b
herein, January 01 of the birth year shall be chosen; if the birth month could
be determined but not the birth date, the first of the birth month shall be
chosen as the birth date.
4. In case the authority
revising the civil status information is not the original civil registration
authority, after revision is completed, a written notification and a copy of
the civil status extract shall be sent to the original civil registration
authority to have the new information added to the civil register; if the
original civil registration authority is a representative mission, the
notification shall be sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Article 19. Change and
revision of civil status information of adopted children
1. After the child is adopted,
at the request of the adoptive parent(s), the People's Committee of the
locality where the child’s birth was registered or where the child lives shall
change the child’s civil status according to regulations in Articles 26, 27, 28
and 46 of the Law on Civil Status.
2. If the adopted child is an
abandoned child or a child with unknown biological parents, at the request of
the adoptive parent(s), the People's Committee of the locality where the
child’s birth was registered or where the child lives shall add information of
the adoptive parent(s) to the father/mother field in the birth certificate and
birth register; and “adoptive parent(s)" must be included in the Remark
section of the birth register.
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If the father and mother fields
in the birth certificate and birth register are filled out, at the request of
the adoptive father or mother, the People's Committee of the locality where the
child’s birth was registered or where the adopted child lives shall replace the
father or mother’s information in the birth certificate and birth register with
information on the step-father or step-mother; and “adoptive father" or
“adoptive mother” must be included in the Remark section of the birth register.
Article 20. Civil status
information revision, correction and change and ethnicity re-determination in
some special cases
1. Competence in civil status
information revision, correction and change and ethnicity re-determination for
vital events registered at Departments of Justice:
a) If the applicant is an
overseas Vietnamese, the People's Committee of the district where the applicant
lives before going abroad has the power to change, correct and revise their
civil status information and redetermine their ethnicity;
b) If the applicant is a foreigner
residing in Vietnam, the People's Committee of the district where the applicant
lives has the power to correct and revise their civil status information.
c) If the applicant is a
foreigner not residing in Vietnam, the People's Committee of the district where
the Department of Justice that registered the applicant’s civil events is
located has the power to correct and revise civil status information.
c) If the applicant is a
foreigner not residing in Vietnam, the People's Committee of the district where
the Department of Justice that registered the applicant’s civil events is
located has the power to correct and revise civil status information.
2. In case an applicant for
civil status information revision, correction or change or ethnicity
re-determination no longer has the authentic copies of civil status documents
or the civil registration authority no longer keeps the civil register, the
civil registration authority may receive and handle the application as per
regulations.
After issuing the extract of
civil status information revision, correction or change or ethnicity
re-determination to the applicant, the official in-charge of civil status tasks
shall record the changed, corrected or revised civil status information or
re-determined ethnicity in the Remark section of the civil register or on the
back of the authentic copy of the civil status document as regulated.
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Article 21. Recording civil
status changes per judgments and decisions of competent authorities in civil
registers
1. Upon receipt of a
notification and enclosed judgment extract or decision copy concerning change
of civil status of an individual, the civil registration authority shall
record such change in the civil register according to regulations in Clause 1
Article 30 of the Law on Civil Status; if the civil register is retained by the
superior civil status managing authority, send a notification and a photocopy
of the judgment extract or decision copy to this managing authority to have
such change recorded in the civil register.
2. In case the civil
registration authority has not received a notification and enclosed judgment
extract or decision copy but is provided with a valid and effective judgment
extract or decision copy by the individual whose civil status information is
subject to change, the civil registration authority shall record such change in
the civil register according to regulations in Clause 1 herein, and note such
change on the back of the authentic copy of the civil status document. In
case the authority making the note is not the one registering the individual’s
civil status, the former shall note such change on the back of the authentic
copy of the civil status document and send a photocopy of the judgment extract
or decision copy to the latter have such change recorded in the civil register.
Article 22. Recording vital
events of Vietnamese citizens resolved by competent foreign authorities in
civil registers
1. If a Vietnamese citizen born
overseas and having their birth registered at the competent foreign authority
wishes to have their birth recorded in the civil registers, the civil
registration authority shall record their birth in the civil register and issue
an extract of the birth registration recorded in the civil register and a copy
of the birth certificate to the applicant.
2. If a Vietnamese citizen not
residing in Vietnam wishes to have their divorce recorded in the civil register
so as to register their new marriage at the competent Vietnamese authority,
they shall submit an application to the People's Committee of the district
where they registered their previous marriage or where they register their new
marriage.
Article 23. Issuance of
civil status extract copies
1. A civil status registration
and management authority that keeps civil registers or manages the electronic
civil status database has the power to issue civil status extract copies.
Contents of civil status extract copies must be consistent with
information in civil registers. Any field in the form of the civil status
extract copy that has no information available in civil registers or the
electronic civil status database shall be left blank.
2. If the old civil register
records age, the civil registration authority shall determine and record the
corresponding birth year in the Remark section of the civil register and issue
the civil status extract copy.
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3. In case an individual has
their civil status information changed, corrected or revised, their ethnicity
re-determined, a civil status change per a judgment or decision of the
competent authority recorded in a civil register, or a vital event of
Vietnamese citizens resolved by the competent foreign authority recorded in a
civil register, information in the birth certificate copy and civil status
extract copy shall be revised based on the information written in the Remark
section of the civil register.
If an applicant applies for
issuance of a marriage records extract copy but a civil status change per an
effective divorce decision or judgment is recorded in the marriage register or
a divorce resolved by a competent foreign authority is recorded in a civil
register, the Remark section of the marriage records extract copy shall state:
divorced per Judgment/Decision No. [judgment/decision number] dated [date] by
the Court of [name of court].
Section 6. MOBILE BIRTH
REGISTRATION, DEATH REGISTRATION AND MARRIAGE REGISTRATION
Article 24. Cases of mobile
birth registration, death registration and marriage registration
1. In case a child is born to
parents with a physical disability or illness that renders them unable to
register the child’s birth or to parents in temporary detention or in prison
and the child has no maternal or paternal grandparents or other relatives or
these persons cannot register the child’s birth, the commune-level People’s
Committee shall register the birth in a mobile manner.
In case a deceased person does
not have any relatives or their relatives do not live in the same commune, or
are old or weak, or have physical disabilities and cannot register their death,
the commune-level People’s Committee shall register their death in a mobile
manner.
In case both the male and
female partners live in the same commune but one or both of them have a
physical disability or illness that renders them unable to register their
marriage, the People’s Committee of their commune shall register their marriage
in a mobile manner.
2. Besides the cases provided
for in Clause 1 of this Article, depending on the actual situation of each
commune, commune-level People’s Committee shall decide to register births,
deaths and marriages in a mobile manner.
3. Commune-level People’s
Committees shall allocate time, funding and work force for mobile civil
registration according to regulations in Clauses 1 and 2 herein in a suitable
way, ensuring all births, deaths and marriages are registered.
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1. The commune-level official
in charge of justice - civil status affairs assigned the task of mobile birth
registration and death registration shall prepare all necessary application
forms and specimen civil status documents and ensure conditions for mobile
registration at people’s houses or a mobile registration point, ensuring
people’s convenience.
At the mobile civil
registration point, the official in charge of justice - civil status affairs
shall instruct applicants to fill out application forms; check documents acting
as the bases for birth registration and death registration per the Law on Civil
Status, Decree No. 123/2015/ND-CP and this Circular; and draw up application
receipt confirmations. The result of a mobile birth/death registration
application shall be announced no later than 05 working days from the date of
receipt.
2. Within 02 working days from
the date of receipt of an application according to Clause 1 herein, the
official in charge of justice - civil status affairs shall submit the civil
status documents to the Chairperson of the commune-level People’s Committee for
signature and record registration contents in the appropriate civil register.
3. Within 05 working days per
regulations in Clause 1 herein, the official in charge of justice - civil
status affairs shall bring the civil status documents and civil register to
announce the result to the applicant at the mobile registration point; instruct
people to put their signatures and full names to the civil register as
regulated; and write "Mobile registration" in the Remark section of
the civil register.
4. If the applicant is
illiterate, the official in charge of justice - civil status affairs shall fill
out the application form directly and then read it aloud to the applicant and
instruct the applicant to append their fingerprints to the application form.
When announcing the civil registration result, the official in charge of
justice - civil status affairs shall read the civil status documents to the
applicant and instruct them to append their fingerprints to the civil register.
These regulations are also
applicable to the mobile marriage registration procedure provided for in
Article 26 of this Circular.
Article 26. Mobile marriage
registration procedure
1. The commune-level official
in charge of justice - civil status affairs assigned the task of mobile
marriage registration and death registration shall prepare all necessary
application forms and specimen civil status documents and ensure conditions for
mobile registration. At the mobile civil registration point, the official
in charge of justice - civil status affairs shall inspect and verify the
marriage conditions of all parties; instruct people to fill out marriage
registration application forms; and draw up application receipt confirmations.
The result of a mobile marriage registration application shall be
announced no later than 05 working days from the date of receipt.
2. Within 05 working days per
regulations in Clause 1 herein, if all parties meet the marriage conditions
according to regulations in the Law on Marriage and Family, the official in
charge of justice - civil status affairs shall submit the marriage certificate
to the Chairperson of the Commune-level People’s Committee for signature and
then give the marriage certificate to the parties at the mobile registration
point.
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SPECIMEN CIVIL STATUS DOCUMENTS AND CIVIL REGISTERS;
GUIDELINES FOR MANAGEMENT AND USE OF CIVIL STATUS DOCUMENTS AND CIVIL REGISTERS
Section 1. SPECIMEN CIVIL
STATUS DOCUMENTS AND CIVIL REGISTERS
Article 27. Specimen civil
status documents and civil registers
1. Enclosed with this Circular
are:
a) List of civil status
documents printed and distributed by the Ministry of Justice (Appendix 1);
b) List of civil registers
printed and distributed by the Ministry of Justice (Appendix 2);
c) List of civil status
documents uploaded onto the web portal of the Ministry of Justice and permitted
for print and use by civil registration authorities (Appendix 3);
d) List of civil registers
uploaded onto the web portal of the Ministry of Justice and permitted for print
and use by civil registration authorities (Appendix 4);
dd) List of civil registration
application forms uploaded onto the web portal of the Ministry of Justice and
permitted for print and use by civil registration authorities and citizens
(Appendix 5);
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Article 28. Competence in
printing and distribution of specimen civil status documents and civil
registers
1. The Ministry of Justice has
the power to print and distribute birth certificates (authentic copy and copy),
marriage certificates (authentic copy), birth registers, marriage registers and
death registers included in the lists provided for in Points a and b Clause 1
Article 27 of this Circular.
Departments of Justice shall
contact the Ministry of Justice to obtain blank civil status documents and
civil registers and take responsibility if affiliated civil registration
authorities use specimen civil status documents and civil registers not
distributed by the Ministry of Justice.
2. Civil registration
authorities using the shared civil status registration and management software
may be provided with specimen birth certificates (authentic copy and copy) and
marriage certificates (authentic copy) included in the lists provided for in
Point a Clause 1 Article 27 of this Circular.
3. Civil registration
authorities may print and use specimen civil status extracts (authentic copy
and copy) included in the list provided for in Point c Clause 1 Article 27 of
this Circular; and specimen civil registration application forms included in
the list provided for in Point dd Clause 1 Article 27 of this Circular, which
are uploaded onto the web portal of the Ministry of Justice (at
www.moj.gov.vn).
Civil registration applicants
may print and use specimen civil registration application forms available on the
web portal of the Ministry of Justice. If an applicant cannot print the
necessary application form, the civil registration authority shall print and
give the form to the applicant free of charge.
4. Civil registration
authorities may print and use specimen civil registers included in the list
provided for in Point d Clause 1 Article 27 of this Circular, which are
uploaded onto the web portal of the Ministry of Justice (at www.moj.gov.vn).
If a domestic civil
registration authority cannot print specimen civil registers, the supervisory
Department of Justice shall print and distribute these specimens to the
civil registration authority or contact the Ministry of Justice to obtain
these specimens.
5. Civil registration
authorities shall take responsibility for use of civil status documents and
civil registers printed and/or distributed against the regulations in this
Circular.
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Article 29. How to fill in
civil registers and civil status documents
1. Commune-level officials in
charge of justice - civil status affairs, officials in charge of civil status
affairs of district-level justice authorities, and members of diplomatic
missions and consular posts (hereinafter collectively referred to as “civil
status officials”) shall accurately fill in civil registers and civil status
documents themselves with clear handwriting, no acronyms or erasing; using
quality ink of one color; and avoiding using different ink colors and red ink.
Civil status documents printed
using information technology must be printed with quality black ink and ensure
that the letters are not blurry, missing strokes or fading.
2. Every civil register must be
fan stamped from the first page to the last page after it is opened. The
register shall be filled in page after page, leaving no page blank.
3. Annual registers must be
filled in continuously from entry number 01 to the end of the year. If a
register is completely filled in before the year ends, start a new register and
continue from the last entry number of the old register instead of starting
from number 01.
If a register is not completely
filled in by the end of the year, the civil registration authority may continue
using this register for the following year after register closing per
regulations.
4. The number written on a
civil status document of an individual must be consistent with the number
written in the corresponding civil register according to regulations in Clause
3 herein.
5. Columns and sections in
civil registers and civil status documents must be fully and accurately filled
in according to guidelines in the civil registers and in this Circular; the
Gregorian calendar shall be used.
6. Civil status changes per
judgments and decisions of competent authorities shall be recorded in civil
registers as follows:
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b) Parent-child identification
shall be recorded in the Remark section of the birth register of the child;
c) Sex re-assignment shall be
recorded in the Remark section of the birth register of the person undergoing
sex re-assignment;
d) Adoption and termination of
adoption shall be recorded in adoption registers and in the Remark section of
birth registers;
dd) Divorces, annulment of
unlawful marriages and marriage recognition shall be recorded in the Remark
section of marriage registers;
e) Guardianship recognition
shall be recorded in guardianship registers;
g) Missing person declarations
and declarations of a legally incapacitated person or person with limited
capacity of exercise or cancellation of such declarations shall be recorded in
the Remark section of birth registers;
h) Declarations and
cancellation of declarations of death shall be recorded in death registers.
7. Vital events of Vietnamese
citizens resolved by competent foreign authorities shall be recorded in civil
registers as follows:
a) Births shall be recorded in
birth registers;
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c) Guardianships shall be
recorded in guardianship registers;
d) Recognition of parent-child
relationships and parent-child identification shall be recorded in parent-child
relationship recognition registers. If the child's birth has been
registered in Vietnam, the district-level People’s Committee shall request the
authority registering the birth to add a remark to the birth register;
dd) Adoptions shall be recorded
in adoption registers;
e) Civil status changes shall
be recorded in registers of civil status information change, correction and
revision and ethnicity re-determination with remarks added to registers of
other vital events;
g) Divorces and marriage
annulments shall be recorded in divorce remark registers. If a previous
marriage remark or marriage registration is done by a competent Vietnamese
authority, the district-level People’s Committee shall request the authority
registering the marriage or making the marriage remark to add another remark to
the marriage register;
h) Deaths shall be recorded in
death registers.
8. Civil status registration
and management authorities archiving civil registers shall fill in civil
registers according to regulations in Clause 6 of this Article immediately upon
receipt of judgments and decisions.
If a civil register is archived
at 2 levels, the civil status registration and management authority receiving
the judgment or decision shall fill in the civil register and then notify the
other authority where the civil register is archived to have the civil register
updated, ensuring consistency.
9. Civil registers must be
filled in based on civil status documents and applications for registration of
vital events of Vietnamese citizens resolved by competent foreign authorities;
if a field in a civil register lacks information from civil status documents,
it shall be left blank; and information available in civil status documents
without a corresponding field in the civil register shall be added to the
Remark section of the civil register.
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Article 30. How to fill in
names of administrative locations in civil status documents and civil registers
upon changes
1. Upon change to the name of
an administrative location, the administrative location field in civil status
documents and civil registers shall contain the name used at the time of
application.
2. Civil status extract copies
shall contain the administrative location names written in civil registers.
Article 31. How to fill in
birth certificates and birth registers
1. Last name, middle name and
first name of the person whose birth is registered must be capitalized with all
tone marks.
2. Date of birth of the person
whose birth is registered must be written in both numbers and words.
3. The Place of birth field
shall be filled in as follows:
a) If the child is born in a
hospital, maternity ward, healthcare station or healthcare establishment
(hereinafter collectively referred to as “health facility”), the name of the
health facility and address of the premises of the health facility shall be
filled in.
b) If the child is not born in
a health facility i.e., at home, on a vehicle, on the road, in a detention
center or prison or at another location, the name of the administrative
location where the child is born shall be filled in (fill in all 3
administrative levels).
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d) In case of birth
re-registration without sufficient information on the place of birth, the name
of the Vietnamese province or name of the foreign country shall be filled in
(e.g., Vinh Phuc or United States).
4. The Place of residence field
shall be filled in as follows:
a) If the person whose birth is
registered is a Vietnamese citizen residing in Vietnam, the permanent address
shall be filled in; if there is no permanent address, the temporary address
shall be filled in; if there is no permanent or temporary address, the current
address shall be filled in.
5. The Personal documents of
the person registering the birth field must include the type, number, issuer
and date of issuance of each document.
6. The Place of birth
registration shall include the exact name of the authority with competence in
birth registration according to regulations of the Law on Civil Status. To be
specific:
a) If the birth is registered
at a commune-level People’s Committee, names of 3 administrative levels must be
filled in (commune, district and province).
b) If the birth is registered
at a district-level People’s Committee, names of 2 administrative levels must
be filled in (district and province).
c) If the birth is registered
at a representative mission of Vietnam in a foreign country, the name of the
representative mission shall be filled in.
7. If the father or mother of
the person whose birth is registered is a foreigner, their name shall be filled
in as written in their passport or an equivalent document.
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9. The Remark section on the
back of the birth certificate shall be used to record civil status information
changes, correction and revision, ethnicity re-determination; civil status
information changes per judgments and decisions of competent authorities,
including the date, month and year of recording, changed civil status information
and type, number, issuer and date of issuance of documents providing the basis
for such recording.
10. Guidelines for filling in
last name, middle name and first name, date, month and year, place of
residence, personal documents, place of registration, location and country
names and remarks of changes herein are also applicable to other types of civil
registers and civil status documents to ensure consistency.
Article 32. How to fill in
marriage certificates and marriage registers
1. The date, month and year of
marriage registration shall be the date on which both the male and female
partners are present to sign the marriage register and marriage certificate at
the civil registration authority. The marriage relationship shall be
established at the time of marriage registration unless otherwise provided for
in Clause 2 of this Article.
2. In case of marriage
re-registration and registration of marriages of couples cohabiting before
January 03, 1987 per regulations in Clause 2 Article 44 of Decree No.
123/2015/ND-CP, recognition of marriage relationship per regulations in Clause
2 Article 11 of the Law on Marriage and Family, and marriage registration per
regulations in Article 13 of the Law on Marriage and Family, the date, month
and year of marriage relationship establishment shall be written on the back of
the marriage certificate.
In case of marriage
re-registration and registration of marriages of couples cohabiting before
January 03, 1987 with unknown date of previous marriage registration or date of
establishment of cohabiting relationship, the first date of the month of the
year of marriage registration or establishment of cohabiting relationship shall
be chosen; in case of unknown date and month, January 01 of the year of
previous marriage registration or establishment of cohabiting relationship
shall be chosen.
Article 33. How to fill in
marital status certificates and marital status certificate issuance registers
1. The Marital status field
shall contain the applicant’s current marital status, which must be written in
an honest manner. To be specific:
- If the applicant has never
married, specify that the applicant is currently not married to anyone.
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- If the applicant cohabited
with another before January 03, 1987 and has not divorced or the spouse is not
deceased or declared deceased, specify that the applicant is currently married
to Mrs./Mr. …
- If the applicant had a
marriage registered or cohabited with another before January 03, 1987 but has
divorced and has not remarried, specify that the applicant had a marriage
registered or was married but has divorced per Judgment/Decision No. … dated
[date of issuance] by the People’s Court of …; and is currently not registering
a marriage with anyone.
- If the applicant had a
marriage registered or cohabited with another before January 03, 1987 but the
spouse is deceased and has not remarried, specify that the applicant had a
marriage registered or was married but the spouse is deceased (Death
Certificate/Death Certificate Extract/Judgment No. … issued by [name of issuer]
dated [date of issuance]); and is currently not registering a marriage with
anyone.
- If a married applicant wishes
to have the marital status prior to marriage registration certified, specify
that from [date] to [date], the applicant was not married to anyone; and is
currently married to Mrs./Mr. … (Marriage Certificate No. … issued by [name of
issuer] on [date]).
2. For overseas Vietnamese who
wish to have the marital status during their stay in Vietnam prior to traveling
abroad certified, and persons with multiple past places of residence who wish
to have the marital status during the time they lived in a place of residence
certified, their marital status during such periods shall be specified.
Example: not married to anyone
while living in Bong Lai commune, Que Vo district, Bac Ninh province from
November 20, 1996 to March 04, 1998.
3. In case a Vietnamese
applicant is issued with a marital status certificate by a representative
mission while they reside overseas, the Place of residence field shall contain
the applicant’s current address. The applicant’s marital status shall be
determined based on civil registers and the electronic civil status database
managed by the representative mission and written as prescribed in Clause 2
herein.
Article 34. How to fill in
death certificate extracts and death registers
1. The Time of death field
shall be filled in based on the death notice or an equivalent document
mentioned in Clause 2 Article 4 of Decree No. 123/2015/ND-CP , which must
specify the hour, minute, date, month and year of death in numbers and in
words; the hour and minute fields shall be left blank if they are unclear.
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In case of death on vehicle,
death due to accident, death in detention center, in prison, at execution
location or on premises of a regulatory body or organization or unknown place
of death, 3 administrative levels (commune, district and province) of the
location where the decedent passes away or is found deceased shall be filled
in.
3. The Cause of death section
in the death register shall be filled in based on the death notice or an
equivalent document mentioned in Clause 2 Article 4 of Decree No.
123/2015/ND-CP ; this section shall be left blank if such document is
unavailable or the cause of death is unclear.
4. The section about the death
notice or an equivalent document must include its name; number and date of
issuance and name of its issuer. If the commune-level People’s Committee
with competence in registration of a death also takes responsibility for
issuance of the death notice, the death notice is not required; and the section
about the death notice in the death registration extract and death register
shall be left blank.
Article 35. Correction when
filling in civil registers and vital status documents
1. During civil registration,
if there is any mistake in filling in a civil register, the civil status
official shall cross out the wrong part and write the correct information above
or next to it, and must not write over or erase the wrong part or write on an
erased part.
If a mistake renders a page
unusable, the civil status official shall cross out the page.
The Remark column of the civil
register must contain the corrected contents; date of correction and signature
and full name of the civil status official.
The civil status official shall
report the correction to the head of the civil registration authority, who
shall inspect and put a seal to the corrected contents for confirmation. The
head of the civil registration authority shall inspect and put a seal to the
corrected contents for confirmation.
Civil status officials shall
not erase, correct or revise contents written in civil registers without
permission.
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3. If a mistake is found after
civil registration is completed as per the law, civil status shall be corrected
as regulated.
Article 36. Opening and
closing civil registers
Civil registers shall be opened
and closed as follows:
1. Registers recording one type
of vital event shall be numbered in the order in which they are used in a year
starting from number 01.
Example: - Guardianship
register, No. 01-TP/HT-2020-GH
- Parent-child relationship recognition register, No. 01-TP/HT-2020-CMC.
Register opening date shall be
the first date on which a vital event is recorded in the register.
Register closing date in case
the register is used up before the year ends shall be the last date on which a
vital event is recorded in the register; if the year ends and the register is
not yet used up, the register closing date shall be December 31 of that year.
2. Civil status officials shall
enumerate total number of vital events recorded in civil registers and number
of corrections made according to regulations in Clause 1 Article 35 of this
Circular and number of pages left blank (if any).
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Article 37. Archiving of
civil registers and civil registration applications
1. Civil registers and civil
registration applications shall be permanently preserved and archived for
people’s use and state management purpose.
2. Consular Departments,
representative missions, commune-level People’s Committees, district-level
People’s Committees and Departments of Justice shall archive, preserve and use
civil registers as per the law; and take measures against storms, floods,
humidity and termites to ensure safety.
Heads of civil registration
authorities shall take responsibility for loss or misuse of or damage to civil
registers.
Chapter IV
IMPLEMENTATION CLAUSES[1]
Article 38. Transitional
Clauses
1. Civil registration
applications received by civil registration authorities prior to the effective
date of this Circular and not fully handled may continue to be handled
according to regulations of the Circular No. 15/2015/TT-BTP dated November 16,
2015 by the Ministry of Justice on guidelines for a number of Articles of Law
on Civil Status and Decree No. 123/2015/ND-CP (hereinafter referred to as
“Circular No. 15/2015/TT-BTP”).
2. Birth certificates, marriage
certificates and civil registers made using the specimens enclosed with
Circular No. 15/2015/TT-BTP that are being used in civil registration
authorities may continue to be used until the end of December 31, 2020.
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Article 39. Effect
1. This Circular takes effect
from July 16, 2020 and supersedes Circular No. 15/2015/TT-BTP.
2. During the implementation of
this Circular, People’s Committees of provinces and central-affiliated cities
and Departments of Justice shall promptly report difficulties arising to the
Ministry of Justice for guidance./.
CERTIFIED BY
PP. MINISTER
DEPUTY MINISTER
Mai Luong Khoi
[1] Article 3 and Article 4 of Circular No.
09/2022/TT-BTP on annulment of a number of contents of Circulars in the fields
of legal aid and civil status, promulgated by the Minister of Justice, which
comes into force from January 01, 2023, are specified as follows:
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1. If requests for legal aid
and requests for change of legal aid performers or withdrawal of requests for
legal aid received by organizations performing legal aid before the day on
which this Circular comes into force have not been handled completely, the
handling shall be continued as prescribed in Circular No.12/2018/TT-BTP.
2. If applications for birth
registration for persons who have submitted personal documents and applications
for birth re-registration, which are received by civil registration authorities
before the day on which this Circular comes into force, have not been processed
completely, the processing shall be continued as prescribed in Circular
No.04/2020/TT-BTP.
Article 4. Implementation
Clauses
1. This Circular comes into
force from January 01, 2023.
2. Director of Legal Aid
Department, Director of Bureau of Civil Status, Nationality, Authentication,
Heads of units affiliated to the Ministry of Justice; Director of Department of
Justice, Directors of State Legal Aid Centers of provinces and
central-affiliated cities and relevant agencies, organizations and individuals
are responsible for the implementation of this Circular.
Difficulties that arise during the period of
implementation of this Circular should be reported to the Ministry of Justice
for consideration and settlement./.