Germany recognizes new Vietnamese passports, reissues C-type visas

"Vietnamese passports issued from January 1, 2023 and with the place of birth on the personal information page are recognized," the announcement on February 16 of the German Embassy in Vietnam stated, adding that it will issue a type C visa to the holder of this passport.

The announcement also said Germany "recognizes" new passports issued between July 1, 2022 and December 31, 2022 that include additional place of birth information on the passport.

Old passports (green) that are still valid are still accepted normally when applying for Schengen visas of all types.

Type C visa allows a maximum stay of 90 days within 180 days of entry. Depending on the itinerary, applicants can apply for a single, double or multiple entry visa but the stay cannot exceed 90 days.

Vietnam will start issuing new passports from July 1, 2022 according to ICAO standards but without place of birth information.

On July 27, 2022, Germany became the first country in the Schengen area to stop issuing visas on new Vietnamese passports due to lack of place of birth information.

Several Schengen countries later followed Germany's lead as the bloc operates on a consensus basis.

After the working process of the parties, from mid-August 2022, Germany temporarily resumed issuing visas for passports with additional place of birth in the uncle's page. However, the issuance of type C visas is still suspended.

Some Schengen countries also announced that they would temporarily "recognize" the new passport model with the place of birth on the uncle's page. However, these countries require that from 2023 this information must be shown on the personal information page.

Faced with citizens' difficulties, on November 15, 2022, the National Assembly agreed to add the place of birth to the personal information page of the new passport model. Passports issued from January 1, 2023 have had this information added, and the full name is also separated into two separate lines to facilitate citizens.

The Ministry of Public Security is currently preparing to issue ordinary passports with chips from March 1. The form is no different from the dark blue model, except for the electronic chip symbol. Currently, more than 100 countries and territories use this type of passport.

People with passports without chips can still use them normally until they expire and are not required to change to the chip-equipped type.

According to Tuoi Tre