Birthplace information to be added back in Vietnamese new passports
The National Assembly has officially agreed to add place of birth information back into Vietnamese new passports, following rejections from a number of countries earlier this year.
A Vietnamese new passport (Photo: Vietnam Government Portal)
Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The National Assembly hasofficially agreed to add place of birth information back into Vietnamese newpassports, following rejections from a number of countries earlier this year.
On November 15 afternoon, the NA passed a resolution of the fourthplenary session after 21 working days, with the majority of the deputies inagreement, which includes the item on the controversial new passports.
The resolution states that the parliament agreed with theGovernment’s proposal on adding back the information, and told the Governmentto direct relevant authorities to modify and supplement legal documents tocarry out this task.
The Government was also told to study and submit to the NA forconsideration and making a decision on the amendment of Clause 3, Article 6 ofthe Law on Exit and Entry of Vietnamese Citizens to meet practicalrequirements.
Previously, some countries – including Germany, the Czech Republic,and Spain – said they suspended the recognition of the navy blue coveredpassports of Vietnam, which started to be issued from July 1, 2022 – because ofthe omission of the birthplace information.
They said the lack of this information would make it hard fortheir immigration authorities to verify the identity of the passport holders.
The Immigration Department under the Ministry of Public Securityinsisted the new passport complies with the International Civil AviationOrganisation (ICAO) standards (which doesn't state the place of birth as amandatory field of information in the passport's visual inspection area), butrelented by supplementing birthplace information to the appendix of thepassports, to facilitate Vietnamese citizens’ travels.
The NA’s approval would mean the birthplace information wouldreturn to the main inspection area of the passports.
General Secretary of the NA and Chairman of the NA Office Bui VanCuong, in a press conference held following the closing of the NA meeting, saidthat the addition of new field of information in the passport form will notcause extra fees or procedures, since in the application for passports alreadyhas included this information as a mandatory field already.
This is information that must be declared for the immigrationauthorities to include in the national database on immigration. The passportmanagement agency can easily extract the place of birth information from thedatabase of passport information, the official noted.
However there has not yet been official measure dealing with thealready printed passports./.
Minister of Public Security Gen. To Lam provided more information about the new passport version of Vietnam while fielding questions from full-time lawmakers at the 14th session of the National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee on August 10.
Representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) recently met with the embassies of Germany, the Czech Republic and Spain and asked them to coordinate with Vietnam to tackle difficulties regarding granting visas in the new version of Vietnam’s passports, according to the MoFA.
Germany will temporarily recognise Vietnam’s new passport version with information about holders' place of birth added in the appendix, according to a diplomatic note the German Federal Foreign Office sent to the Vietnamese Embassy on August 15.
The addition of "place of birth" information to the Vietnamese passport will ensure stable and long-term legitimate rights and interests for Vietnamese citizens when conducting immigration activities in other countries, according to Chairman of the National Assembly (NA) Defence and Security Committee Le Tan Toi.
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Nghia affirmed that this is a milestone of special significance, affirming and honouring the the Vietnamese revolutionary press’s glorious tradition of 100 years of serving the revolutionary cause of the Party, serving the Fatherland, and serving the people.
The Party and State of Vietnam always attach great importance to and give top priority to the development of Vietnam–China relations. Vietnam is ready to work with the Chinese Party and State to further deepen the Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership and promote the building of the Vietnam-China community with a shared future that carries strategic significance.
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Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien welcomed the proposals put forward by the US side and reiterated Vietnam’s request for consideration of key areas of interest, including reciprocal tariff policies and access for Vietnamese key export products to the US market.
A Vietnamese new passport (Photo: Vietnam Government Portal) 
