Chương I Thông tư 07/2023/TT-BNG hướng dẫn đăng ký và quản lý hộ tịch tại Cơ quan đại diện ngoại giao, Cơ quan đại diện lãnh sự của Việt Nam ở nước ngoài do Bộ trưởng Bộ Ngoại giao ban hành: Quy định chung

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope

This Joint Circular elaborates Article 3 and Article 53 of the Law on Civil Status with regard to the civil registration for Vietnamese citizens residing abroad; re-registration of births, marriages and deaths; issuance of civil status record extract copies; issuance of marital status certificates to Vietnamese citizens residing abroad; state management of civil status by overseas Vietnamese diplomatic missions and consular offices (hereinafter referred to as representative missions) as referred to in the Law on civil status and the Government’s Decree No. 123/2015/ND-CP dated November 15, 2015 providing for detailed regulations on a number of Articles and measures for implementing the Law on Civil Status (hereinafter referred to as Decree No. 123/2015/ND-CP) and Decree No. 87/2020/ND-CP dated July 28, 2020 of the Government on electronic civil status database and online civil registration (hereinafter referred to as Decree No. 87/2020/ND-CP.

Article 2. Power to receive civil registrations

1. Representative missions shall receive registrations of vital events as referred to in Article 3 of the Law on Civil Status, re-registrations of births, marriages and; issue civil status record extract copies from civil status registers or electronic civil status database; issue marital status certificates to Vietnamese citizens residing abroad in accordance with Vietnamese laws, laws of receiving countries and international treaties to which Vietnam is a signatory.

2. In countries where two or more representative missions of Vietnam are situated, the representative mission in consular region where the applicant resides shall have the power to receive civil registrations.

3. In countries or territories where representative missions are not available, the civil registration shall be carried out at non-resident or convenient representative missions.

Article 3. Definitions

For the purposes of this Circular, the terms below are construed as follows:

1. A Vietnamese citizen residing abroad refers to a person who holds Vietnamese nationality and permanently or temporarily resides in a foreign country.

2. A Vietnamese citizen permanently residing abroad refers to a person who holds Vietnamese nationality and is granted with permanent resident card by the host country.

3. A Vietnamese citizen temporarily residing abroad refers to a person who holds Vietnamese nationality, works or studies in a foreign country and is granted with fixed-term temporary residence permit by the host country.

4. Consular officer is a diplomat or consul who is assigned to take charge of civil status job at a representative mission.

Article 4. Submission, receipt of applications for civil registration and giving of civil registration results

The submission, receipt applications for civil registration and giving of civil registration results by representative missions shall be governed by regulations in Article 3 of the Government’s Decree No. 123/2015/ND-CP, Article 12 of Decree No. 87/2020/ND-CP, Articles 2, 3, 4, 5 of the Circular No. 04/2020/TT-BTP dated May 28, 2020 by Ministry of Justice elaborating the Law on Civil Status and the Government’s Decree No. 123/2015/ND-CP dated November 15, 2015 providing for detailed regulations on a number of articles and measures for implementing the Law on Civil Status (hereinafter referred to as Circular No. 04/2020/TT-BTP) and the following guidelines:

1. An application for civil registration may be submitted in person or by post or via the online civil registration system.

2. When requesting a representative mission to handle procedures for civil registration, the applicant must present the original of any of the following documents: passport or passport substitute, ID card, Citizen Identity Card or other unexpired documents with photo and personal information issued by competent authorities (hereinafter referred to as identity papers) to prove his/her identity, and document(s) proving his/her residence in the host country (if any). The representative mission shall check, make a photocopy and certify that photocopy after having compared it with the original thereof for archiving. If the application for civil registration is submitted by post, certified copies of the said documents shall be submitted.

If the applicant is a Vietnamese citizen and is granted with ID card with a personal identification number (PIN), the applicant may present the original of such card in person or the photocopy of such card by post or via the online civil registration system to prove his/her identity when the technical infrastructure allows the representative mission to connect to the National Population Database

3. Representative missions shall receive and process requests for online civil registration in accordance with the capacity to provide online public services and the synchronous use of the shared electronic civil registration and management software at such representative missions. If online civil registration is not available, representative missions shall post notifications on their web portals or send written notifications with clear explanation to their applicants via email (if any).

4. Documents issued by competent authorities of a host country to use for carrying out civil registration procedures with representative missions do not require consular legalization.   If the authenticity of a document is doubted, that document must obtain consular legalization by a competent authority.

Documents issued by competent authorities of a third country to serve the civil registration carried out at representative missions must obtain consular legalization in accordance with regulations.

Documents in foreign languages included in the applications for civil registration must be translated into Vietnamese or English. The translation must be notarized or have the translators’ signatures certified as regulated by law.

5. When giving of civil registration results, if applicants wish to receive the results in person, the givers shall guide the applicants to check contents on the vital records and civil status registers. If applicants find the contents of such civil status documents or registers correct and consistent with the applications for civil registration, they shall sign and clearly state their full names in the civil status registers; if the results are sent by post or via online public service systems, signatures are not required, unless otherwise prescribed in Clause 6 of this Article.

6. Regarding the following vital events, applicants shall be present at representative missions to put their signatures to civil status registers and receive results of registering birth, marry and guardian; recognizing father, mother, child; changing and correcting civil status, re-determining ethnicity, supplementing civil status information; declaring death.

Regarding other vital events, applicants may choose to receive results in one of the methods prescribed in Clause 4 Article 12 of Decree No. 87/2020/ND-CP.

If the applicants wish to receive their results by post, they shall prepare envelopes with their addresses, stamps or return postage.

Article 5. Use of civil status forms and registers

When handling civil registration requests, representative missions shall use corresponding civil status forms and registers announced by Ministry of Justice in Circular No. 04/2020/TT-BTP in case of direct civil registration and Circular No. 01/2022/TT-BTP dated January 04, 2022 of the Minister of Justice providing detailed regulations on some Articles and measures for implementation of Decree No. 87/2020/ND-CP, Circular No. 03/2023/TT-BTP dated August 02, 2023 amending certain contents of Circular No. 01/2022/TT-BTP dated January 04, 2022 (hereinafter referred to as Circular No. 01/2022/TT-BTP) in case of online civil registration.