Currently, many Vietnamese citizens residing abroad without permanent residence in Vietnam are among the subjects facing difficulty in applying for citizen identification cards and identification numbers.

According to Article 19 of the Law on Citizen Identification 2014: "Vietnamese citizens aged full 14 years or older are eligible for grant of citizen's' identity cards" and Clause 1, Article 20 of the Law on Citizen Identification stipulates: "Citizen identity card is a personal paper of a Vietnamese citizen which proves citizen identification of the card holder for conducting transactions in the Vietnamese territory.”

However, other regulations in the Citizen Identification Law and Decree 137/2015/ND-CP dated December 31, 2015 detail a number of articles and measures to implement the Citizen Identification Law stipulate that citizens must declare information about permanent residence in Vietnam when applying for citizen identification and personal identification number, specifically:

Article 9 of the Citizen Identification Law stipulates that information about permanent residence is one of the types of information collected and updated in the National Population Database;

Point c, Clause 2, Article 5 of the Law on Citizen Identification stipulates that citizens are obliged to provide information to update the National Population Database and Citizen Identification Database;

Point a, Clause 1, Article 18 of the Law on Citizen Identification stipulates that permanent residence is one of the types of information recorded on the citizen identity card;

Point b, Clause 1, Article 22 of the Law on Citizen Identification stipulates that if a citizen does not have information in the National Population Database, he/she must present legal documents about the information to be recorded in the declaration according to the regulations (including information on permanent residence).

Decree No. 137/2015/ND-CP detailing a number of articles and measures to implement the Law on Citizen Identification stipulates: "Vietnamese citizens aged 14 years and older who have registered permanent residence older are eligible for grant of citizen's' identity cards".

Thus, these regulations do not take into account the characteristics of Vietnamese citizens residing abroad – most of them do not have permanent residence in Vietnam, so they are not eligible for grant of citizen's' identity cards when performing administrative procedures at localities.

Many Vietnamese citizens residing abroad do not have permanent residence in Vietnam, but they still need to carry out administrative procedures and civil transactions in the country because they often return to visit their homeland, to work and do business in Vietnam.

Among Vietnamese citizens residing abroad who have not yet been granted citizen identity cards, there are also a number of children under 14 years old, whose birth was registered at civil status offices in Vietnam, and have been granted with personal identification numbers and then follow their parents to live abroad as well as the Vietnamese children living abroad who will register their births at Vietnamese representative agencies abroad and be granted with personal identification numbers according to regulations in the near future. When these children turn 14 years old, they may wish to be granted with Vietnam’s citizen identity cards according to the provisions of Article 19 of the 2014 Citizen Identification Law.

Surveys of Vietnamese people residing abroad on the implementation of relevant policies and laws, as well as during meetings with Vietnamese leaders at all levels, many Vietnamese citizens residing abroad expressed their wish to be granted citizen identification cards to facilitate the implementation of administrative procedures, civil transactions, and public services in Vietnam.

Currently, Vietnamese citizens still use passports to carry out administrative procedures and civil transactions. However, in the coming time, citizen’s identity cards will integrate a lot of information including marital status, health insurance, driver's license, social insurance, bank cards... In particular, information about marital status is required in many civil transactions such as real estate, inheritance, bank mortgages, stock transactions... If there is no policy (stipulated in the Citizen Identification Law), Vietnamese citizens living abroad who have residence registration in Vietnam may not be granted a citizen identity card.

At the 21st regular session (March 2023), the National Assembly Standing Committee agreed to add the amended Citizen Identification Law project to the 2023 Law and Ordinance Development Program to submit to the National Assembly’s consideration at the 5th session and expected to be passed at the 6th session.

Regarding this issue, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has proposed to have regulations clearly stipulating that Vietnamese citizens residing abroad are eligible for grant of citizen’s identity cards to avoid different interpretations. At the same time, the Law assigns the Government to detail the issuance of citizen’s identity cards to Vietnamese citizens residing abroad (authority, procedures, and content recorded on citizen’s identity cards when there is no permanent residence in Vietnam). The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will coordinate closely with the Ministry of Public Security in the process of drafting detailed documents.

The Ministry of Public Security has accepted the above proposals and explained: In Clause 1, Article 20, the draft Law clearly stipulates: "The person who is granted with a citizen’s identity card is a Vietnamese citizen." From there, it can be seen that, regardless of whether Vietnamese citizens residing in the country or abroad, have the right to be issued a citizen identification card. Clause 2, Article 19 of the draft Law on Citizen Identification assigned the Minister of Public Security to specifically regulate the content of the citizen’s identity card, particularly the information about place of residence and in cases where people do not have or do not collect all the information that needs to be shown on the card (accordingly, for Vietnamese citizens who do not reside in the country - do not have a permanent or temporary residence in the country, they will still be eligible for grant of a citizen identification card).

Thus, although the draft revised Law on Citizen Identification submitted to the National Assembly does not add Vietnamese citizens residing abroad to the subjects eligible for grant of citizen’s identity card, in the process of implementing the amended Law on Citizen Identification, the Ministry of Public Security will provide specific instructions to remove this "bottleneck" in bylaw documents. This is a bright spot in the work of ensuring rights for Vietnamese people abroad, demonstrating the Party, State and Government's concern for overseas Vietnamese.

Quynh Nga - Le Tuyet Nhung - Phung Thu Thuy