Chapter I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1.- Regulation scope
This Decree details the implementation of a number of articles of the Marriage and Family Law on the marriage and family relations involving foreign elements, which include the marriages, the recognition of fathers, mothers or children, and the child adoption between Vietnamese citizens and foreigners, between foreigners permanently residing in Vietnam; the recognition of marriages, divorces, recognition of fathers, mothers or children as well as child adoption between Vietnamese citizens or between Vietnamese citizens and foreigners, which have been carried out at competent foreign offices.
Article 2.- Protection of marriage and family relations involving foreign elements
1. In the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the rights and legitimate interests of the parties to the marital relations, the parents-children relations, the child adoption relations, which involve foreign elements and are established or recognized under the provisions of the Marriage and Family Law and this Decree, are respected and protected in accordance with Vietnamese laws and the international agreements which Vietnam has signed or acceded to.
2. It is strictly prohibited to take advantage of marriage, recognition of fathers, mothers or children and/or child adoption to traffic in, exploit the labor of, sexually abuse women and/or children or for other self-seeking purposes.
Activities of brokerage in marriage, recognition of fathers, mothers or children and/or child adoption for the purpose of seeking profits in any form are strictly forbidden.
Article 3.- Competence to register marriages, recognition of fathers, mothers or children as well as child adoption
1. The People’s Committees of the provinces or centrally-run cities (hereinafter referred to as the provincial-level People’s Committees) shall register the marriages, the recognition of fathers, mothers or children and the child adoption between Vietnamese citizens and foreigners; and between foreigners permanently residing in Vietnam.
2. The People’s Committees of communes, wards or district townships (hereinafter referred to as the commune-level People’s Committees) in the border regions shall register the marriages, the recognition of fathers, mothers or children and the child adoption between Vietnamese citizens permanently residing in the border regions and citizens of neighboring countries who permanently reside in regions bordering on Vietnam as provided for in Chapter V of this Decree.
3. Vietnamese Diplomatic Missions and Consular Offices in foreign countries (hereinafter called Vietnamese Diplomatic and Consular Offices) shall register the marriages, the recognition of fathers, mothers or children and the child adoption between Vietnamese citizens residing in foreign countries and foreigners as provided for in this Decree, if such registration does not contravene the law of the host countries.
Article 4.- Application of international agreements
In cases where an international agreement which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has signed or acceded to contains provisions different from those in this Decree, the provisions of such international agreement shall apply.
Article 5.- Application of foreign laws
In case where this Decree and/or other legal documents of Vietnam prescribe or the international agreements which Vietnam has signed or acceded to refer to the application of foreign laws, such foreign laws shall apply to the marriages, the recognition of fathers, mothers or children and the child adoption, which involve foreign elements, if the consequences of such application are not contrary to the principles of the Marriage and Family Law of Vietnam; in case where a foreign law refers back to Vietnamese law, the Vietnamese legislation on marriage and family shall apply.
Article 6.- Requests for consular legalization, notarization of translations of papers
1. Papers issued by foreign agencies or organizations or notarized or authenticated overseas for use for the marriages, the recognition of fathers, mothers or children, the child adoption under the provisions of this Decree must be legalized by the Vietnamese Diplomatic Missions or Consular Offices or the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, except for cases prescribed in Clause 1, Article 67 of this Decree.
Papers granted by Vietnam-based foreign Diplomatic Missions or Consular Offices to their citizens for use for the marriages, the recognition of fathers, mothers or children or the child adoption in Vietnam shall be exempt from consular legalization on the basis of the principle of reciprocality. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs shall guide the application of this principle.
2. Papers prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article in foreign language(s) must be translated into Vietnamese and the translations must be notarized according to law provisions of Vietnam, except for cases prescribed in Clause 2, Article 67 of this Decree.
Article 7.- Archival of dossiers and annotations on marriages, recognition of fathers, mothers or children and child adoption
1. The dossiers of registration of marriages, recognition of fathers, mothers or children and child adoption, the dossiers of annotation on marriages, divorces, recognition of fathers, mothers or children as well as child adoption must be preserved and archived according to the law provisions on civil status registration and the legislation on archive.
2. Where the registration or annotation in the registers of marriages, recognition of fathers, mothers or children, and child adoption falls under the jurisdiction of the provincial-level People’s Committees, the provincial-level Justice Services shall, right after recording such in the registers, notify this in writing to the commune-level People’s Committees of the localities where the concerned Vietnamese citizens permanently reside or temporarily reside for a given period of time or where foreigners permanently reside in Vietnam, for monitoring, annotation or further annotation into the civil status books of the commune-level People’s Committees according to the law provisions on civil status registration.
3. The Vietnamese diplomatic and consular offices shall register the marriages, the recognition of fathers, mothers or children and the child adoption according to the provisions of this Decree into two original books (double registration) and have the responsibility to archive the dossiers as provided for in Clause 1 of this Article; and periodically send back home 1 original book for the Ministry for Foreign Affairs to archive and grant copies thereof according to the law provisions on civil status registration.
Article 8.- Fees
Those who apply for the registration of marriages, recognition of fathers, mothers or children or child adoption; those who apply for annotations on marriages, recognition of fathers, mothers and children and/or child adoption into the registers, which have already been carried out at competent foreign offices, must pay civil status fees as provided for by law.
Article 9.- Interpretation of terms and phrases
In this Decree, the following terms and phrases shall be construed as follows:
1. Foreigners mean persons who do not bear the Vietnamese citizenship, including foreign nationals and stateless persons.
2. Foreigners permanently residing in Vietnam mean foreign nationals and Stateless people who reside, work and earn their livings for long periods of time in Vietnam.
3. Foreign nationals mean persons who bear foreign nationality(ies); the foreign nationality means the nationality of a country other than the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
4. Stateless people mean persons who do not bear either the Vietnamese nationality or foreign nationality.
5. Border regions include communes, wards and district townships of Vietnam, whose administrative boundaries adjoin the national land borderlines as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 2, Decree No.34/2000/ND-CP of August 18, 2000 of the Government on the Regulation on the land border regions of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
6. Regions bordering on Vietnam include the administrative units of the People’s Republic of China, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and the Kingdom of Cambodia, which are equivalent to communes, wards or district townships of Vietnam and have their administrative boundaries adjoining the land borderlines of Vietnam.
Tìm kiếm
Nghị định 68/2002/NĐ-CP (Bản Word)