Takes effect on January 01, 2016, the Decree No. 123/2015/ND-CP dated November 15, 2015 of the Government detailing a number of articles of, and measures to implement, the Law on Civil Status, emphasizes that competent persons may only arrange and recruit persons who are qualified to perform civil status work, based on the number of commune-level cadres and civil servants prescribed by the Government, People’s Committees of provinces and centrally run cities shall prioritize the arrangement of justice and civil status officers to perform civil status work on a full-time basis in communes, wards and townships that are class-1 and class-2 commune-level administrative units with a large population and huge civil status work.
The change of family name, middle name and/or given name of a person aged under 18 years is subject to consent of his/her parents clearly expressed in the declaration; if such person is 9 years old or older, his/her consent is also required. The Decree also allows the birth, marriage and death re-registration. A birth, marriage or death that has been registered with a competent Vietnamese agency before January 1, 2016, may be re-registered if the civil status book and original civil status papers are lost. A birth, marriage or death re-registrant shall submit all copies of papers and documents related to the re-registration. Dossiers of request for civil status registration which are received by the civil status registration agencies before January 1, 2016, and remain unsettled shall be further settled.
For male and female partners living together like husband and wife before January 3, 1987, and having not yet registered their marriage shall be encouraged and provided with conditions to register their marriages. Their marital relationship shall be recognized from the date they established their co-living relationship like husband and wife.
