Currently, marriage registration between Vietnamese citizens and foreigners is no longer a rare case. However, many questions about the conditions of marriage with foreigners still remain. The following article will brief regulations of Vietnam on conditions in order for a marriage between a Vietnamese citizen and a foreigner to be legally recognized.
The conditions of marriage with foreigners are stipulated in Article 126 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014. Accordingly, marriage relation between Vietnamese citizens and foreigners is a civil relation involving foreign elements. Therefore, the conditions of marriage with foreigners will be governed by the Vietnamese Law, foreign law and treaties to which Vietnam and the foreigner’s country are members. Specifically, in order to conduct marriage registration, first of all, the spouses in marriage relation involving foreign elements must meet the conditions for marriage under the law of the country in which they are citizens. If the husband and wife choose Vietnam as the place to register their marriage, the foreign spouse must also meet the conditions for marriage registration under Vietnamese law.
The Law on Marriage and Family 2014 stipulates the conditions for getting married in Clause 1, Article 8 as follows:
- The man is at full 20-year-old or older, the woman is at full 18-year-old or older;
- The marriage is voluntarily decided by themselves;
- The man and woman do not lose the civil act capacity. Specifically, they do not suffer any mental illness or other illness which deprive him/her of the ability to perceive and control his/her acts;
- Marriage does not fall into one of the cases that prohibit marriage: (i) Sham marriage; (ii) Underage marriage, forcing a person into marriage, deceiving a person into marriage; (iii) A married person getting married to or cohabitating as husband or wife to another person, or an unmarried person getting married to or cohabitating as husband or wife to a married person; and (iii) Getting married or cohabitating as husband ot wife between people of the same direct blood line; relatives within three generations; adoptive parent and adopted child; or former adoptive parent and adopted child, father-in-law and daughter-in-law, mother-in-law and son-in-law, or stepparent and stepchild.
Persons wishing to register marriage involving foreign elements must submit all the required documents. Besides the documents serving ordinary marriage registration, including: (i) A declaration of marriage registration; (ii) A certificate issued by a competent Vietnamese or foreign health organization stating that he/she does not suffer any mental or other diseases which deprive him/her of the ability to perceive and control his/her acts, the foreign spouse must submit additional documents proving marital status, copy of passport or equivalent document.
District-level People’s Committee of places of residence of Vietnamese citizens is the competent agency to carry out marriage registration and approve the conditions of marriage with foreigners according to Article 37 of the 2014 Law on Civil Status 2014.
The above are the regulations on the conditions of marriage with foreigners in accordance with the law. If you need the legal advice on the conditions of marriage with foreigners, please contact us.
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