The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) has recently unveiled a draft revised Law on Citizen Identification, which is scheduled to replace the 2014 Law on Citizen Identification, adding regulations on management and issuance of citizen’s identity cards (ID cards), inclusion of more information in ID cards, and development of electronic identification (e-ID).

The Ministry of Justice has recently co-chaired with the United Nations Population Fund Country Office in Vietnam to organize the review of the six-year implementation of the Civil Status Law. On this occasion, Ms. Naomi Kitahara, UNFPA Representative for Vietnam, grants Vietnam Law & Legal Forum magazine an interview on the results Vietnam has achieved in civil status work as well as things that should be done in the future for fulfilling the country’s set goals.

It can be said that Vietnam’s legal provisions on protection of personal data are rooted in the right to privacy - a fundamental human right. There is a general principle enshrined in all provisions on personal data protection in Vietnam’s legal documents: personal data is protected and other subjects may use personal data only if data subjects so agree, unless otherwise provided by law; violators are subject to administrative and criminal penalties, and data subjects suffering from personal data intrusion are entitled to damages.

Under Article 35.1 of the 2014 Law on Civil Status (the Law), the district-level People’s Committee of the locality where you or your girlfriend is residing is competent to make birth registration for your Vietnam-born son, for you are a foreigner and your girlfriend is a Vietnamese citizen.

As per the Vietnamese Civil Code, an individual has the right to change his/her family name to his/her spouse’s in the marriage and family relations involving foreign elements in accordance with law of the country in which the foreign spouse is a citizen or retrieves his/her family name before the change.

The Prime Minister on March 22 issued a decision approving a list of 55 online public services that need to be provided on the National Public Service Portal in 2021.

Visa for foreigners living in Vietnam will be issued online via the National Public Service Portal in 2021.

The national population database management agency would establish personal identification numbers for citizens having birth registration certificates but not yet been issued PINs.

As per Article 16 of the Vietnamese Citizenship Law, a child born inside or outside the Vietnamese territory either of whose parents is a Vietnamese citizen will have Vietnamese citizenship if so agreed in writing by his/her parents at the time of birth registration.

E-identity and e-authentication would be used in online public administrative services provided by state agencies for organizations and individuals based on the user-centered principle and the sharing of identification information among various systems.