Current Marriage Registration Procedures

Together with the excitement of getting married, couples should also pay attention to complete the marriage registration procedure at the competent authority! This procedure is a completely voluntary act between a man and a woman on the basis of equal respect for each other and recognized by law. We will help you better understand the procedure!

Conditions to register marriage 

Pursuant to Articles 8 and 9 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014, the conditions for marriage registration are prescribed as follows:

• Men from 20 years old, women from 18 years old, are considered to be of legal age for marriage;
• The marriage is voluntarily decided by a man and a woman;
• Both have not lost their civil act capacity;
• The marriage does not fall into one of the cases where marriage is prohibited according to regulations, including: Fake marriage; Child marriage, forced marriage, cheating on marriage, obstructing marriage; A married person marries another person or unmarried person but marries a married person; Marriage between people of the same direct bloodline; or between people in the extended family within three generations; between adoptive parents and adopted children; between a person who used to be adoptive father, adoptive mother with an adopted child, a father-in-law with a daughter-in-law, a mother-in-law with a son-in-law, a stepfather with a step-child of a wife, a stepmother with a step-son of a husband.

Note that Vietnamese law also does not recognize marriage between people of the same sex.

Procedures and documents to be carried out

After the above conditions are met, you can start going through the marriage registration process.

Registration procedure:

The person requesting for marriage registration shall come to the commune-level People’s Committee where either one of the persons resides to carry out the marriage registration. In case the marriage involves a foreign element (such as between a Vietnamese citizen and a foreigner, or both are foreigners), the marriage registration authority must be the district-level People’s Committee where one of them resides.

The receiving authority is responsible for immediately checking the entire dossier, comparing the information in the declaration and the validity of the papers in the dossier submitted by the applicant.

If the application is complete and valid, the receiving officer will receive the application and issue a receipt, clearly stating the date and time the result will be announced. If the dossier is incomplete, the receiving officer shall immediately instruct the applicant to supplement missing document(s) according to the regulations. In case it is not possible to supplement or complete the dossier immediately, the receiving officer must make an official instruction letter, clearly stating the types of papers and contents to be supplemented, signing and stating his/her full name on the letter.

After receiving a complete and valid dossier, if all the marriage conditions are met, the judicial and civil status officer shall report to the President of the People’s Committee. Then if the President of the People’s Committee grants his/her approval, the judicial and civil status officer will record the marriage in the marriage registration book.

On the date the marriage result is announced to the applicant, the man and woman will visit the People’s Committee Office where they registered their marriage. The judicial and civil status officer shall guide them to check the contents of the marriage registration book and the marriage certificate. 

If the parties find that the content is correct and consistent with the marriage registration dossier, the judicial – civil status officer together with the couple will sign in the Book and the couple will jointly sign the Marriage Certificate. 

The President of the People’s Committee hands over the marriage certificate to the couple, each person will receive 01 original of the marriage certificate. In addition, if there is a need for a copy of the Marriage Extract, it will also be provided upon request.

The assessment time for the Marriage Registration as prescribed is 05 – 15 working days from the date of receipt of complete and valid dossiers.

Application dossiers include:

• Marriage registration declaration form. Both male and female parties can make a joint declaration of marriage registration.
• Original certificate of marital status of both male and female parties. There are specific rules of the certificate form template for each nationality if the marriage has foreigner elements. It is important to follow the exact template, otherwise the dossier will be rejected.
• Documents to be presented: Citizenship ID, Identity Card or Passport (temporary residence card or international travel document for foreigners); Documents proving the residence address of both male and female parties.
• If the marriage involves a foreign element, an original of the certificate issued by a competent medical organization must be issued to both the male and female partners, certifying that the person does not have a mental illness or other disease that render the party incapable of having cognition or being in control of his/her own behavior.
• The Court’s divorce decision or judgment has been effective if you have been married and divorced before.

Some issues related to marriage registration procedures

Firstly, when registering a marriage, two people must be present at the place where the marriage certificate is issued. Marriage registration cannot be authorized to others to act on the applicants’ behalf.

Secondly, papers in foreign languages ​​used for civil status registration in Vietnam must be translated into Vietnamese and notarized or authenticated in accordance with the respective law.

Thirdly, if within 60 days, both parties cannot be present to receive the Marriage Certificate, this certificate will be canceled. If both of them still want to get married, the registration procedure will have to be redone from the beginning.

Fourthly, for same-sex marriage, the Law on Marriage and Family 2014 removes the provision: “prohibit marriage between people of the same sex” but still “does not recognize marriage between people of the same sex”. 

Fifthly, online marriage registration can be done in several locations. Currently, with the development of technology, many localities have carried out administrative procedures online.

Lastly, to register marriage online, citizens in any province or city will access the online public service portal of that province to perform registration operations. After successful registering online, couples must pay attention to messages or emails to continuously update their profile status and confirm information when being asked. 

In summary, when deciding to get married, besides the wedding preparation, it is necessary to carry out the marriage registration procedures to ensure compliance with the law and have an important basis for the marriage and to form a happy family.  Please contact us for more detailed instructions: letran@familylawyers.vn