On March 3, 2000 the Government issued Decree No.05/2000/ND-CP on exits and entries of Vietnamese citizens (hereinafter called the Decree for short). The Ministry for Foreign Affairs hereby guides in detail the issuance, extension, amendment and supplementation of diplomatic passports and official passports (hereinafter referred collectively to as passports) in foreign countries as follows:

I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

1. The diplomatic missions, the consulates or other agencies authorized to perform the consular function of Vietnam in foreign countries ( hereinafter called the representative missions for short) are the agencies which receive dossiers and settle the granting, extension, amendment or supplementation of passports overseas.

2. Passports shall be granted, extended, amended or supplemented overseas in the following cases:

a) Persons who have been granted passports under the provisions in Articles 7 and 8 of the Decree, and, while in foreign countries, have their passports lost, damaged, left with no more blank pages or expired or request the supplements or amendments to their passports provided that such persons continue to perform the official tasks of agencies, organizations, State enterprises, People� Army or People�s Police units.

b) Persons who have been granted passports under the provisions in Clause 5 of Article 7 and Clause 8 of Article 8 of the Decree and, while on working missions in foreign countries, have been appointed to hold diplomatic positions or change their diplomatic titles under decisions.

c) Persons who carry ordinary passports and, while in foreign countries, are appointed to be members of the overseas representative missions of Vietnam; Vietnamese correspondents of State-run news agency and press, based overseas; or wives (husbands) and under-18 children of members of the above-said agencies.

d) Under-18 children of the persons defined in Clause 5 of Article 7 and Clauses 1 thru 8 of Article 8 of the Decree with their names and photos in their fathers� (mothers�) passports, if they request to be granted separate passports.

3. The granting of passports overseas must comply with the provisions on subjects eligible for the passport granting defined in Articles 7 and 8 of the Decree and Section II of Circular No.04/2000/TT-BNG of November 8, 2000 of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, guiding the granting, extension, amendment, supplementation and management of diplomatic passports and official passports at home according to the Government�s Decree No.05/2000/ND-CP of March 3, 2000 on exits and entries of Vietnamese citizens.

4. Validity duration of passports:

a) The validity duration of the passports granted to family members defined in Clause 6 of Article 7 and family members of the persons defined in Clause 8 of Article 8 of the Decree shall correspond to the working terms of their relatives overseas, but shall be no longer valid within 6 months as from the dates the officials and employees finish their working terms at their representative missions.

b) Apart from the regulations in Item (a) above, the passports granted to under 18- children shall be valid till the date they turn full 18 years of age, but not for over 5 years. When children are full 18 years old, representative missions shall issue ordinary passports and cancel the issued diplomatic or official passports.

5. Vietnamese citizens who are being in foreign countries and request the granting, extension, supplementation or amendment of passports shall have to personally go to Vietnamese representative missions to fill in the procedures therefor. In cases they are in countries where the Vietnamese representative missions are not yet available, or due to their sickness, ailments or other special reasons they cannot go personally, the heads of the representative missions shall consider and decide the cases on the basis of their applications and authorization papers.

6. For passports issued by the Consular Department or the Diplomatic Service of Ho Chi Minh City with the validity of under 2 years (issued in exceptional cases under Article 7, Clause 7 and Article 8, Clause 11, of the Decree), if the passport bearers request re-issuance or extension due to loss, damage, running out of pages or expiry, the representative missions shall notify the person identifications and fax the documents on sending such persons overseas or the written certification of continued performance of official tasks overseas to the Consular Department and shall grant new passports or make passport extension only when so consented by the Consular Department. For these cases, the validity duration of the issued or extended passports shall comply with the notification of the Consular Department.

7. The item on office title of the passport bearer (in page 2 of the passport) shall be inscribed as follows:

- For positions prescribed in Clause 2 thru Clause 7, Article 8 of the Decree: To inscribe the office titles in Vietnamese, except where the managing agencies request not to inscribe the office titles of the passport bearers;

- Foreign minister, vice-ministers, members of the representative missions and their dependents: To inscribe their office titles in Vietnamese and English.

- For other positions: Not to inscribe their office titles in the passports.

8. The documents on sending officials, employees abroad or the written certification of their continued performance of official tasks overseas should satisfy the following requirements:

- They have been issued for not more than 6 months as from the date of signing;

- They are inscribed clearly with the full names and office titles of the persons who have been sent abroad or are performing official tasks of their agencies or organizations in foreign countries, the purpose of, and financial sources for the trips;

- They are signed directly (not with the photocopied signatures) by the competent persons defined in Article 15 of the Decree and affixed with the seals of their agencies.

Where the applicants for passport granting are officials of State enterprises under the Prime Minister, the overseas dispatch documents or written certifications of continued performance of official tasks overseas must be signed directly by the Managing Board chairmen (for members of the Managing Boards) or the general directors (for deputy-general directors and other officials) and affixed with the seals of such enterprises.

- If the documents comprise 02 or more pages; the overlapping seals must be stamped between pages.

- If amendments and/or supplements are made to the documents, the seals must be stamped on such amendments and/or supplements.

- The applicants for passport granting or extension or the agencies or organizations which dispatch such persons on overseas missions may send through the Consular Department the documents mentioned in this Item to the representative missions.

- For members of the representative missions, the documents mentioned in this Item can be replaced with the certifications by the heads of the representative missions, who personally sign in declaration of application for the passports.

9. When re-issuing passports, the representative missions shall inscribe in the annotation pages of the new passports the contents "This passport replaces Passport No�. issued by�.on day� month� year�" in Vietnamese and English.

II. PASSPORT-GRANTING PROCEDURES

1. Passport re-granting due to loss:

1.1. The dossier includes:

- 01 declaration of application for passport granting (according to set form),

- 03 identical photos, size 4x6 cm, taken with straight eyes, bare heads, without sun-glasses, within less than one year, of which one photo is stuck to the declaration form and two others enclosed therewith. Officers and professional army men in the People�s Army or the People�s Police, officials and employees of branches with own uniforms must have their photos taken in mufti.

- The application reporting on passport loss with certification by a competent agency of the host country.

- The document on sending the official or employee abroad or the certification of his/her continued performance of official mission overseas mentioned in Item 8, Part I of this Circular.

1.2. The representative missions shall settle as follows:

- The representative missions send the personal identifications together with the photos (original photos or photos transmitted via e-mail) of the passport applicants to the agencies which have issued the former passports for verification.

Within 10 working days, the agencies which have issued the passports, have the responsibility to examine and reply the verification requests of the representative missions.

Within 05 working days as from the date of receiving the verification results, the representative missions shall issue new passports if the agencies asked to give the verification reply that they have issued such passports.

- Where the lost passports were issued by the representative missions themselves or the passport losers have already registered citizenship at the representative missions, the representative missions shall examine, compare with the archived dossiers or the citizenship registration dossiers; if determining that the personal identifications and details in the former passports, which are declared by the applicants for passport re-granting, are accurate, the representative missions shall, within 05 working days as from the date of fully receiving the valid dossiers, re-issue the passports.

- After re-issuing the passports, the representative missions shall notify the cancellation of lost passports to the Consular Department, the Exit and Entry Management Department and the host countries� agencies with functions of managing exits and entries.

2. Re-issuing passports due to page running out, damage (torn, dirty�) or expiry (for passports already extended once):

2.1. The dossier includes:

- 01 declaration of application for passport granting (according to set form);

- 03 photos as prescribed;

- The document on sending officials or employees abroad or the certification of continued performance of official missions overseas by such officials or employees, as mentioned in Section 8, Part I of this Circular.

- The passports which are damaged, run out of pages or expired (already extended once).

2.2. The representative missions shall settle the cases as follows:

- The representative missions shall examine the old passports; if ascertaining that the passports are valid and the personal identification details as well as photos remain clear and accurate, they shall consider and grant new passports within 05 working days as from the date of fully receiving the valid dossiers.

- Where there are grounds to doubt that the old passports have been erased, have photos replaced, have been torn, dirty at pages on personal identification or photo pages without guaranty of the truthfulness of the personal identification details and passport photos, the representative missions shall send the personal identification details together with photos (original photos or photos sent via e-mail) of the applicants for passport granting to the agencies which have issued the old passports for verification.

Within 10 working days, the agencies which have issued such passports shall have to examine and respond to the verification requests of the representative missions.

Within 05 working days as from the date of receiving the verification results, the representative missions shall issue new passports if the agencies asked to give the verification confirm that they have issued such passports.

- The representative missions shall photocopy the personal identification pages of the old passports, then cut the corner, stamp the cancellation seals and return them to the passport re-grantees.

3. Granting passports in cases of appointment to hold diplomatic positions or changes of diplomatic titles:

The dossier includes:

- 01 declaration of application for passport granting (according to set form);

- 03 photos as prescribed;

- The Foreign Ministry�s decision or notice on the appointment to hold diplomatic position or on the change of diplomatic titles;

- The passport in current use.

The representative missions shall issue new passports within 02 working days as from the date of fully receiving the valid dossiers. After issuing new passports, the representative missions shall photocopy the personal identification pages of the old passports, then cut off the corners thereof, stamp the cancellation seals and return them to the passport grantees.

4. Granting passports to ordinary-passport bearers overseas, who are appointed to be members of the foreign-based Vietnamese representative missions, overseas-based correspondents of State-run news agency and press of Vietnam or the wives (husbands) or under 18- children of the members of the above-said agencies:

The dossier includes:

- 01 declaration of application for passport granting (according to set form);

- 03 photos as prescribed;

- The Foreign Ministry�s decision or notice on the appointment of members of the representative missions or correspondents of State-run news agency or press of Vietnam in foreign countries;

- The opinions of the Organization-Personnel Department of the Foreign Ministry (for cases of visits, dependents of members of the representative missions as prescribed in Clause 6 of Article 7 and Clause 9 of Article 8 of the Decree),

- The passport in current use.

The representative missions shall issue new passports within 05 working days as from the date of fully receiving the valid dossiers. After issuing the new passports, the representative missions shall photocopy the personal identification pages of the old passports, then cut off the corners thereof, stamp the cancellation seals and return them to the passport grantees.

5. Granting separate passports to children being offspring of the persons defined in Clause 5 of Article 7 and Clauses 1 thru 8 of Article 8 of the Decree with their names and photos in the passports of their fathers (mothers):

Children with their names and photos in the passports of their fathers (mothers) shall be granted separate passports, if they so request.

The dossier includes:

- 01 declaration of application for passport granting (according to set form);

- 03 photos as prescribed;

- The copies of their fathers� (mothers�) passports containing the names and photos of such children; the original passports should be produced for comparison;

- The copies of birth certificates, the decisions on recognition of adopted children; the originals should be produced for comparison.

The representative missions shall compare data on the children in the passports of their fathers (mothers), birth certificates, decisions on recognition of adopted children and grant passport to those children within 05 working days as from the date the valid dossiers are fully submitted. The representative missions shall annotate the obliteration of the children�s names in the passports of the fathers (mothers).

III. PROCEDURES FOR PASSPORT EXTENSION, SUPPLEMENTATION OR AMENDMENT

1. Passport extension:

Before their passports expire, the passport bearers must carry out procedures for the extension thereof. Where their passports have already expired or been extended once, they must fill in the procedures for passport re-granting as provided for in Section 2, Part II.

The dossier includes:

- 01 declaration of application for passport extension (according to set form);

- The passport;

- The document on sending the officials or employees abroad or the written certification of their continued performance of official missions overseas as mentioned in Section 8, Part I of this Circular.

If determining that the passports of the applicants for the extension thereof are intact, showing no signs of erasure, modification in the personal identification pages, photo replacement, page replacement or rebinding, which are neither damaged nor run out of pages, the representative missions shall make the passport extension within 02 working days.

2. Supplementing, amending passports:

2.1. Supplementing, amending personal identification details in the passports:

The dossier include:

- 01 declaration of application for passport supplementation or amendment (according to set form),

- 03 photos as prescribed (for cases of granting new passports),

- The passport,

- The copies (with originals produced for comparison) of valid papers proving the personal identification details which need to be supplemented, amended in the passport.

The representative missions shall check the truthfulness of these papers; if the papers are true, they shall make supplements, amendments and annotations to the passports.

Regarding the requests for amendment of family names, given names and/or middle names under the decisions of the People�s Committees of the provinces or centrally-run cities permitting the changes or correction of family names, given names and/or middle names, the representative missions shall not make annotations in the passports but request the applicants to fill in procedures for granting of new passports.

2.2. Adding under 16- children being in foreign countries, who are children of the persons defined in Clause 5, Article 7 and in Clauses 1 thru 8 of Article 8 of the Decree or are taken care of by these persons into the passports of their fathers, mothers or guardians (if requesting to inscribe the children�s names into the passports of their fathers, mothers or guardians):

The dossier includes:

- 01 declaration of application for passport supplement, amendment (according to set form), affixed with such child�s photos,

- 02 photos of such child.

- The passport of the father (mother) or the guardian,

- The copies of the birth certificate, decision on recognition of adopted child, the decision on recognition of the guardianship (with originals thereof produced for comparison),

- The opinions of the Organization- Personnel Department of the Foreign Ministry (for cases where children accompany or visit the representative missions members defined in Clause 6, Article 7 or Clause 9 of Article 8 of the Decree).

The representative missions shall consider and settle the cases within 02 working days as from the date of fully receiving the valid dossiers. After supplementing the children�s names to the passports of their fathers, mothers or guardians, the representative missions shall make annotations in the passports.

IV. IMPLEMENTATION ORGANIZATION

1. The Consular Department shall have to guide the representative missions in implementing this Circular.

2. After issuing passports, the representative missions shall have to promptly notify the Consular Department of the lists of the passport grantees, clearly stating their personal identifications, the dates of issuance of old and new passports, the validity duration of the new passports, the reasons for granting of passports and the office titles of the passport bearers.

3. This Circular takes effect 30 days after its signing and replaces the regulations on the granting, extension, amendment and supplementation of diplomatic passports and official passports in foreign countries in the Foreign Ministry�s Circular No. 163/NG-TT of May 25, 1995 guiding the implementation of the Government�s Decree No. 24/CP on exit and entry procedures.

For the Foreign Minister
Vice Minister
NGUYEN PHU BINH