Chương I: Thông tư liên tịch 02/2016/TTLT-BNG-BTP hướng dẫn việc 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 - Bộ Tư pháp 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 copies of civil status extracts; 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).

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 deaths in accordance with the law regulations; issue copies of civil status extracts from civil status registers; issue marital status certificates to Vietnamese citizens residing abroad.

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

Article 3. Interpretation of terms 

In this Joint Circular, these terms 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 and receipt of civil registration dossiers, and giving of civil registration results 

The submission and receipt of civil registration dossiers and giving of results thereof by representative missions shall be governed by regulations in Article 3 of the Government’s Decree No. 123/2015/ND-CP, Articles 2, 3, 4, 5 of the Circular No. 15/2015/TT-BTP dated November 16, 2015 by Ministry of Justice detailing the implementation of a number of articles of 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. 15/2015/TT-BTP) and the following guidelines:

1. Civil registration dossiers may be submitted by hand or by post, except for cases where the applicant must be present when carry out procedures for registration of marriage, re-registration of marriage or registration of parent or child recognition as regulated by laws.

If the applicant wants to receive civil registration results by post, he/she must provide a stamped addressed envelope or an addressed envelope with registered post fees in the civil registration dossiers.

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. The representative mission shall check, make a photocopy and certify that photocopy after having compared it with the original thereof for retention.

If the civil registration dossiers are submitted by post, certified copies of the said documents shall be submitted.

3. 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 civil registration dossiers must be translated into Vietnamese or English as regulated.

Article 5. Use of civil status forms and records

When handling civil registration requests, representative missions shall use corresponding civil status forms and records announced by Ministry of Justice in Circular No. 15/2015/TT-BTP.