Are foreigners subject to administrative sanctions?

According to Clause 3, Article 2 of the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations 2012, it is stipulated that:

"Article 2. Interpretation of terms

3. Administrative measures are measures applied to individuals who violate the law on security, order and social safety but do not constitute crimes, including educational measures at communes, wards and towns; sending to reform schools; sending to compulsory education facilities and sending to compulsory drug rehabilitation facilities."

Thus, Clause 3 of this Article does not yet specifically and clearly stipulate whether administrative measures are applicable to foreigners or not. Therefore, you can refer to Article 5 for more information.

According to Article 5 of the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations 2012, subjects subject to administrative violations are specified as follows:

"Article 5. Subjects subject to administrative violations

1. Subjects subject to administrative sanctions include:

a) Persons from 14 to under 16 years old shall be administratively sanctioned for intentional administrative violations; persons from 16 years old and above shall be administratively sanctioned for all administrative violations.

People in the People's Army and People's Police who commit administrative violations shall be handled as other citizens; in cases where it is necessary to apply the penalty of revoking the right to use a license or practice certificate or suspending activities for a period of time related to national defense and security, the person imposing the penalty shall request the competent agency or unit of the People's Army or People's Police to handle the case;

b) Organizations are administratively sanctioned for any administrative violations they commit;

c) Foreign individuals and organizations that commit administrative violations within the territory, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; on aircraft with Vietnamese nationality or ships flying the Vietnamese flag shall be subject to administrative sanctions according to the provisions of Vietnamese law, except in cases where international treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member have other provisions.

2. Subjects subject to administrative handling measures are individuals specified in Articles 90, 92, 94 and 96 of this Law.

Administrative measures do not apply to foreigners."

It can be seen that Clause 2 of this Article mentions administrative measures that do not apply to foreigners. However, in reality, there are many cases of confusion between administrative sanctions and administrative violations, so it is necessary to clearly distinguish between these two issues.

Therefore, according to the provisions of law and the above analysis, foreigners are still subject to administrative sanctions, but are not subject to administrative handling measures.