From December 13, agencies and branches from the central to local levels must not, on their own will, request citizens to submit any papers in addition to those specified in Government Decree No. 136/2007/ND-CP on Vietnamese citizens’ entry and exit and its guiding circular when carrying out procedures for grant or modification of passports for citizens.
This is one of major instructions in the Prime Minister’s Directive No. 29/2007/CT-TTg issued the same day.
According to the Directive, cadres, civil servants and employees are not required to submit any other papers apart from passport application dossiers like other citizens do. Agencies and units must not seize or keep ordinary passports of cadres, civil servants or employees regardless of whether passport holders are at home or abroad. Such passports may be seized under decisions of competent agencies only when their holders violate Vietnamese law.
Foreign-based Vietnamese diplomatic missions must ensure simple and convenient procedures for citizens and not grant passports to persons without Vietnamese nationality or those who are in Vietnam.
The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs should negotiate with overseas competent agencies to allow Vietnamese guest workers, but not foreign employers, to keep their passports.
Ministers, heads of ministerial-level and government-attached agencies and provincial-level People’s Committee presidents may promulgate regulations on the use of ordinary passports by cadres, civil servants and employees under their management.-