Lt. Gen. To An Xo, Chief of the Ministry of Public Security's Office and Spokesman of the ministry, emphasized in the Government’s regular press briefing on Aug 3 that the new version of Vietnam’s passport has complied with regulations and has been recognized by most countries in the world.

Lt. Gen. To An Xo, Chief of the Ministry of Public Security's Office and Spokesman of the ministry, addresses the press briefing on August 3 (Photo: VNA).

Regarding the temporary suspension of granting visas on the new passport of Vietnam in Germany, Spain, and the Czech Republic, the Chief noted the new passport has complied with regulations in the 2019 Law on Exit and Entry of Vietnamese Citizens and also met conditions and standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the suspensions in these three countries are only temporary due to some technical factors.

Many countries such as Japan, the Republic of Korea, Switzerland, and Mongolia also do not have the “place of birth” in their passports, he went on.

To create favorable conditions for Vietnamese citizens to work, study and travel abroad, the MPS and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are working with partners of Germany, Spain, and the Czech Republic to deal with the technical issues, which Xo said will be handled “very early”.

He went on to say that the short-term solution is that the MPS will add the place of birth in the passport’s appendix. If necessary, holders of the new passport version can come to the MPS’s Immigration Department or Vietnam’s overseas representative agencies to add their places of birth in the appendix.

The MPS will coordinate with other ministries and sectors to consider relevant legal regulations to supplement the place of birth in the new passport version, according to the official.

The issue with citizen’s place of birth in the new passport

The new navy blue-colored passport, on top of the old green-color passports (Photo: VNA/VNS).

A new passport form has been used since July 1, 2022, reported the Vietnam Government Portal (VGP). The move aims to implement Circular 73/2021/TT-BCA of the Ministry of Public Security on passport specimens.

Apart from promoting the images of Vietnam to the outside word and uphold the tradition, history, geography and culture of the country, the new passport form is expected to ensure technical safety and prevent counterfeiting.

Previously-issued passports are still valid until the dates of expiration are printed on the passports.

The MPS in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is working with their counterparts in German, Spain, and the Czech Republic after it was announced that Vietnamese citizens with new passports would not be issued visas to enter these countries.

The reason for the temporary suspension if the non-recognition of the new navy blue-colored passports, which Vietnamese authorities have started to issue from early July (the non-chipped version with serial numbers starting with P), is because they do not have a place of birth (province/city) listed.

The birthplace is inferred through the first three digits of the 12-digit personal identification number of the citizen and can be found by looking through a seven-page document, the embassy said. (For example, an identification number starting with 001 means the citizen’s birth certificate was registered in the capital city of Hanoi, 079 means the person is from HCMC, etc.)

The Germany Embassy in Vietnam stated that this detail can make it difficult for the German side to identify the specific locality where Vietnamese citizens were born, especially in the case of minors where ID number has not been granted. The same reason applied to Spain and the Czech Republic.

At the moment, Vietnamese holders of the new passports who have already received visas to these three countries should refrain from traveling since they would be denied entry at the border. The embassy will be contacting these individuals, as well as those who are applying for visas, for further support.

The embassies have also posted relevant information on their websites and will continue to update them as new information becomes available.

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