Minister To Lam urges "place of birth" to be added to new passports
The Government realizes that it is necessary to study and add “place of birth” information to the personal page in passports and this should be implemented soon before January 1, 2023, has said Minister of Public Security, General To Lam.
Minister Lam, authorised by the Prime Minister, presented a report on the implementation of the Law on Exit and Entry of Vietnamese citizens related to information "place of birth" on passports at the ongoing fourth session of the 15th National Assembly (NA).
According the Minister from July 1, the Ministry of Public Security had granted new ordinary passports to its citizens.
Before officially releasing the new passport form, the Ministry of Public Security co-ordinated efforts with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to distribute the new passport form to the representative offices of all countries in Vietnam. After one month of notification as prescribed, no country gave any opinion on this matter.
To overcome these difficulties, the Government has directed the Ministry of Public Security and Vietnamese representative agencies abroad to print and add "place of birth" information to the new passport form for all citizens.
Foreign sides have therefore approved the printing of additional information on passports for citizens, although countries said that this acceptance is only temporary, suggesting that that Vietnam soon add "place of birth" information to the personal page.
In particular, the Czech Republic announced that it will only accept Vietnamese passports with the "place of birth" information printed until the end of the year.
However, on July 27 Germany and several other countries announced that a temporary halt to granting visas to new Vietnamese passports, with the reason being that the passports do not contain the "place of birth" of passport holders.
Minister Lam affirmed that adding this information to the personal page on passports will create convenience for citizens and will not cause additional procedures and costs.
Presenting an appraisal report, Le Tan Toi, chairman of the NA Committee for Defence and Security, stated that the information on entry and exit documents of Vietnamese citizens is regulated by the Law on Exit and Entry of Vietnamese citizens. Therefore, the addition of "place of birth" information to immigration documents is generally within the competence of the National Assembly.
The Committee for Defence and Security therefore agreed with the Government's report on assessing the impact of adding “place of birth” information to passports, Toi said, adding that the addition this information will ensure stable and long-term legitimate rights and interests for Vietnamese citizens in immigration activities in other countries.
According to Toi, due to the time requirements for adding "place of birth" information to the passport identity page prior to January 1, 2023, the time for the amendment process is not guaranteed. This is because it is supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Exit and Entry of Vietnamese citizens or promulgating a separate resolution of the National Assembly on this content.
Therefore, the Committee agreed with the Government's proposal to the National Assembly for permission to include in the General Resolution of the fourth session of the 15 legislature the content on adding "place of birth" to passports of Vietnamese citizens. The Minister of Public Security has duly been assigned to amend and supplement legal documents according to a citizen’s competence and to add "place of birth" information to the passport form issued to Vietnamese citizens.
The verifying agency also suggested that in the long run the Government should study in the direction of expanding and adding "place of birth" to immigration documents in order to ensure stable and long-term legal rights and interests for Vietnamese citizens.
This content will be further discussed on November 9.
