DECREE

AMENDING AND SUPPLEMENTING A NUMBER OF ARTICLES OF THE GOVERNMENT'S DECREE NO. 107/2007/ND-CP OF JUNE 25, 2007, DETAILING AND GUIDING A NUMBER OF ARTICLES OF THE LAW ON RESIDENCE

THE GOVERNMENT

Pursuant to the December 25, 2001 Law on Organization of the Government;
Pursuant to the November 29, 2006 Law on Residence;
At the proposal of the Minister of Public Security,

DECREES:

Article 1. To amend and supplement a number of articles of the Government's Decree No. 107/2007/ND-CP of June 25, 2007, detailing and guiding a number of articles of the Law on Residence, as follows:

1. To amend and supplement Article 3 as follows:

"Article 3. All acts abusing regulations on household registration to restrict citizens' lawful rights and interests are prohibited

1. Under the Law on Residence, regulations on household registration cover:

a) Permanent residence registration and management;

b) Temporary residence registration and management:

c) Sojourn notification;

d) Absence-from-residence declaration.

2. Prohibited acts abusing regulations on household registration to restrict citizens" lawful rights and interests include:

a) Promulgating legal documents or other documents on household registration to restrict citizens' lawful rights and interests:

b) Promulgating legal documents or other documents on household registration in violation of the Law on Residence and guiding documents;

c) Promulgating regulations to restrict citizens' rights to freedom of residence ultra vires or in violation of the order and procedures prescribed by law:

d) Using regulations on household registration as conditions to restrict citizens' lawful rights and interests;

e) Settling in contravention of the Law on Residence or declining to settle citizens' requests for household registration, restricting citizens' lawful rights and interests;

f) Allowing others to have their names recorded in ones' household registration books or to live in ones' domiciles for self-seeking purposes, or allowing others to have their names recorded in ones' household registration books in the same domiciles while failing to ensure the per-capita minimum floor area as prescribed;

g) Signing labor contracts of an indefinite term with laborers outside ones' enterprises for the purpose of helping them have their names recorded in household registration books.

3. Ministries, branches and People's Committees at all levels shall:

a) Examine and review legal documents and other documents on household registration in the domains under their management in order to amend, supplement or annul or propose competent agencies to amend, supplement or annul regulations restricting citizens lawful rights and interests in violation of the Law on Residence and guiding documents;

b) Promulgate according to their competence legal documents and other documents on household registration in accordance with the Law on Residence and guiding documents without restricting citizens' lawful rights and interests:

c) Direct, inspect and supervise agencies, organizations and individuals under their management in implementing the Law on Residence and guiding documents;

d) Detect, prevent and promptly and strictly handle acts abusing regulations on household registration to restrict citizens' lawful rights and interests.

4. Citizens may detect acts abusing regulations on household registration to restrict citizens' lawful rights and interests, and promptly notify such acts to competent agencies and assist them in preventing and handling such acts."

2. To amend and supplement Article 4 as follows:

"Article 4. Citizens' residence places

1. A citizen's residence place is his/her lawful domicile where he/she habitually lives. A citizen's residence place is his/her place of permanent or temporary residence. Each citizen may register his/her permanent residence at only one lawful domicile where he/she habitually lives.

Lawful domiciles may be those under citizens' ownership or use rights or be leased, lent or let free of charge by agencies, organizations or individuals under law. A domicile leased, lent or let free of charge in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City must have the minimum floor area of 5 m/person.

2. When a citizen's residence place is unidentifiable under Clause 1 of this Article, his/her residence place is the place where he/she is living, which is certified by the commune/ward/township police office.

3. Lawful domiciles include:

a) Houses;

b) Ships, boats or other craft which are used for lodging and daily-life activities of households or individuals;

c) Buildings other than those specified at Points a and b of this Clause, which are used for lodging and daily-life activities of households or individuals.

4. Permanent residence registration is disallowed upon citizens' movement to new domiciles in any of the following cases:

a) Their domiciles lie within locations or areas where construction is forbidden or encroach upon the boundary markers for protection of technical infrastructure facilities or ranked historical or cultural relics:

b) Their domiciles are houses which are totally situated on illegally encroached land;

c) Their domiciles lie on land for which competent state agencies have adopted compensation, support and resettlement plans; their domiciles are houses which partially or wholly lie on land involved in unsettled disputes or complaints about ownership or use rights under law (unless persons being paternal grandparents, maternal grandparents, parents, spouses or offspring come and live together);

d) Their domiciles are distrained or confiscated for judgment enforcement or are compulsorily purchased under decisions of competent state agencies;

e) Their domiciles are houses for which competent state agencies have issued dismantlement decisions."

3. To amend and supplement Article 5 as follows:

"Article 5. Papers evidencing lawful domiciles

1. Papers evidencing lawful domiciles for permanent residence registration are any of the following:

a) Papers evidencing that citizens" lawful domiciles are under their ownership, which are any of the following:

- House ownership certificates or papers issued by competent agencies in different periods;

- Papers on use rights of residential land (with houses) as prescribed by the land law;

- Construction permits as prescribed by the construction law (in cases such permits are required);

- Contracts on purchase and sale of state-owned houses or papers on liquidation of state-owned houses;

- Contracts on purchase of houses or papers evidencing the handover and receipt of houses of enterprises with the function to deal in houses and build houses for sale;

- Papers on purchase, sale, donation, exchange or inheritance of houses, notarized or certified by People's Committees of communes, wards or townships (below referred to as commune-level Peoples Committees);

- Papers on donation of gratitude houses, charity houses or solidarity houses or allocation of houses or residential land to individuals or households relocated under state plans or to other entities;

- Papers of courts or competent state administrative agencies permitting house ownership, which have taken legal effect;

- Commune-level People's Committee-certified papers on houses or residential land free from disputes over house ownership or residential land use rights, in case of unavailability of any of the above papers;

- Papers evidencing the registration of ships, boats or other craft under their ownership and addresses of the original wharves of the craft used for lodging. If registration papers are unavailable, commune-level People's Committees' certifica­tion that ships, boats or other craft used for lodging are under their ownership or certification of the purchase and sale, donation, exchange or inheritance of ships, boats or other craft and addresses of the original wharves of such craft is required.

b) Papers evidencing the lease, lending or letting free of charge of lawful domiciles are contracts to lease, lend or let free of charge houses or other buildings of agencies, organizations or individuals (particularly, contracts on lease, lending or letting free of charge of houses or other buildings of individuals must be notarized or certified by commune-level People's Committees). For houses and other buildings in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, such a contract must indicate the area for lease, lending or letting free of charge:

c) Agencies', organizations' or religious establishments' papers on citizens" domiciles which fall into the cases specified at Points c and d. Clause 1, Article 26 of the Law on Residence:

d) Agencies' or organizations' papers signed and sealed by their heads evidencing the allocation and use of houses, transfer of houses, possession of houses built on land allocated by agencies or organizations for construction of houses (for houses and land under management of those agencies or organizations), or certified by commune-level People's Committees that such houses are free from disputes over ownership or use rights.

2. Papers evidencing lawful domiciles for temporary residence registration are either of the following:

a) Any of the papers specified in Clause 1 of this Article: particularly, papers evidencing lawful domiciles are contracts on lease, lending or letting free of charge of houses or other buildings of individuals, such contracts need not to be notarized or certified by commune-level People's Committees;

b) Citizens' written commitments that their domiciles are under their use rights and dispute-free, in ease of unavailability of any of the papers specified at Point a of this Clause.

In case of amendment of legal documents on houses, the Minister of Public Security shall specify other papers evidencing lawful domiciles for permanent or temporary residence registration under those legal documents."

4. To amend and supplement Article 7 as follows:

“Article 7. Conditions for temporary residents to register their permanent residence in centrally run cities

1. A temporary resident who fully satisfies the following conditions may register his/her permanent residence in a centrally run city:

a) He/she has a lawful domicile in a centrally run city and has continuously temporarily resided in that domicile for one year or more:

b) The place in which he/she requests to register permanent residence must be the place where he/she is temporarily residing.

2. The temporary residence period is counted from the date a citizen makes temporary residence registration to the date he/she submits a permanent residence registration dossier.

3. Papers evidencing the temporary residence period are either of the following:

a) Temporary residence books issued to families or individuals according to the form prescribed by the Ministry of Public Security:

b) Commune/ward/township police offices" certification of the time and place of temporary residence registration (in case of temporary residence registration without issuing temporary residence books)."

Article 2. Effect

This Decree takes effect on July 10, 2010.

Article 3. Implementation responsibility

1. The Minister of Public Security shall organize, urge and inspect the implementation of this Decree.

2. Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of government-attached agencies and chairpersons of provincial-level People's Committees shall implement this Decree.