No need for marriage status certificate when registering for marriage

This is one of the new contents added in Decree 07, amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Decrees in the fields of civil status, nationality, and authentication, effective from January 9.

Point c, Clause 3, Article 2 of Decree 07 has added some important contents, helping people simplify procedures related to birth registration and marriage registration of Vietnamese citizens.

Accordingly, with a request for marriage registration, the civil status registration agency will look up information about the marital status of the person requesting marriage registration on the provincial administrative procedure settlement information system through connection with the electronic civil status database and the national population database.

With a request for birth registration where the child's parents have registered their marriage, based on the information on the marriage certificate provided in the birth registration form, the civil status registration agency is responsible for looking up information on the marital status of the child's parents.

Search results are stored in electronic or paper form, fully and accurately reflecting information at the time of search and attached to the applicant's profile.

Immediately after the Decree was issued, on February 4, the Ministry of Justice sent a document on the implementation of these new regulations to the People's Committees of all provinces and cities.

Specifically, the Ministry of Justice proposes that when receiving a request for birth registration, the civil status registration agency shall not require the presentation of the marriage certificate of the child's parents if the child's parents have registered their marriage, except in cases where the child's parents are foreigners.

The Ministry of Justice also recommends that when receiving a request for marriage registration, the civil status registration agency does not require submission of a certificate of marital status or a copy of the divorce record for Vietnamese citizens.

Instead, the receiving agency will have to look up information about the marital status of the child's parents; look up information about the marital status of the person requesting marriage registration on the provincial administrative procedure settlement information system through connection with the Electronic Civil Status Database and the National Population Database.

In case the marital status cannot be looked up because there is no information in the Electronic Civil Status Database or the National Population Database, the civil status registration agency shall request the People's Committee of the commune where the applicant permanently resides/where the marriage was registered to verify and provide information.

Within 3 working days from the date of receiving the verification request, the People's Committee of the commune where the verification request is received is responsible for checking, verifying and sending the results on the marital status of that person, Decree 07 states.