Procedure for marrying a foreigner in Vietnam

1. Regulations on marrying a foreigner

Marriage with a foreigner (or legally referred to as Marriage with a foreign element) is clearly and specifically regulated in the Law on Marriage and Family of 2014.

In which, Article 126 of this Law states:

• When a foreigner and a Vietnamese person marry each other, each party must comply with the laws of their country regarding the conditions for marriage.
• When getting married at the competent state agency of Vietnam, the foreigner must comply with the regulations on marriage conditions stipulated in the Law on Marriage and Family.
• Foreigners residing in Vietnam, getting married at the competent authority of Vietnam, must also meet the marriage conditions of this Law.

So, what are the marriage conditions for foreigners marrying Vietnamese people at the competent authority of Vietnam? Let's find out more together.

2. Conditions for marrying a foreigner in Vietnam

Foreigners and Vietnamese people must register for marriage at the competent authority of Vietnam, ensuring full compliance with the provisions of Article 8 of the Law on Marriage and Family of Vietnam in 2014, and specified in Article 2 of Joint Circular No. 01, 2016, as follows:

- Men aged 20 and above, women aged 18 and above;

- Marriage is voluntarily decided by both the man and woman;

- The parties are not deprived of legal capacity;

- Vietnamese citizens residing abroad must have residency permits issued by the competent foreign authority.

- Marriage does not fall into any of the prohibited marriage cases as stipulated in points a, b, c, and d clause 2 of Article 5 of the Law on Marriage and Family, including:

+ Fake marriage;

+ Forced marriage, coerced marriage, deceptive marriage, obstructing marriage;

+ Married people marrying others or unmarried people marrying those who are already married;

+ Marriage between relatives up to the third degree; between people with the same surname within three generations;

+ Between adoptive parents and adopted children;

+ Between former adoptive parents and adopted children, father-in-law with daughter-in-law, mother-in-law with son-in-law, stepfather with stepdaughter, stepmother with stepson.

* The state does not recognize marriage between people of the same gender.

3. Registering marriage with a foreigner: Where?

According to the regulations in Article 37 - Jurisdiction to register marriage, Law on Civil Status of 2014, Vietnamese citizens and foreigners will register marriage at the People's Committee at the district level where the Vietnamese citizen resides.

The place of residence here is where the Vietnamese citizen frequently resides, including permanent or temporary residence (according to the provisions of Article 40 of the Civil Code Law of 2015 and Article 11 of the Residence Law 2020).

4. Time to register marriage with a foreigner

According to the regulations of Vietnamese laws (Article 31 Point 1 Decree 123/2015/NĐ-CP and Article 32 Decree 123), the total time to process the marriage registration procedures between a Vietnamese person and a foreigner in Vietnam will take about 13 working days, if the valid documents are complete and there are no interruptions.

This includes:

• 10 working days from the date of receiving valid documents for the People's Court under the district People's Committee to conduct research, examination of documents, and verification if necessary, and report to the Chairman of the People's Committee to sign the Marriage Certificate if conditions are met.
• 03 working days from the date the Chairman of the district People's Committee signs the Marriage Certificate for the People's Court to organize the delivery of the Marriage Certificate to the male and female parties.

However, in reality, depending on each case, the time to register marriage with a foreigner may vary.

Note: If one or both parties cannot be present to receive the Marriage Certificate, the People's Court may extend the time to hand over the Marriage Certificate but not more than 60 days from the date of signing the Marriage Certificate upon written request from the People's Court.

After 60 days and the two parties do not come to receive the Marriage Certificate, the signed Marriage Certificate will be canceled.

5. Registration fee for marrying a foreigner

According to the provisions in point c clause 2 of Article 5 Joint Circular 85/2019/TT-BTC, the registration fee for marrying a foreigner at the district-level People's Committee is decided by the Provincial People's Council.

Therefore, the registration fee for marrying a foreigner is not uniformly defined, and the fee in each locality may vary. Generally, the registration fee for marrying a foreigner ranges from 1,000,000 VND to 1,500,000 VND.