CIRCULAR On performance of consular work Pursuant to June 18, 2009 Law No. 33/2009/QH12 on Overseas Representative Missions of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; Pursuant to November 21, 2017 Law No. 19/2017/QH14 Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Overseas Representative Missions of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; Pursuant to June 22, 2015 Law No. 80/2015/QH13 on Promulgation of Legal Documents; Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 26/2017/ND-CP of March 14, 2017, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; At the proposal of the Director of the Consular Department; The Minister of Foreign Affairs promulgates the Circular on performance of consular work. Chapter I GENERAL PROVISIONS Article 1. Scope of regulation and subjects of application 1. This Circular prescribes the performance of consular work at the Consular Department, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations, and diplomatic missions, consular posts and other agencies authorized to exercise consular functions of Vietnam in foreign countries (below collectively referred to as representative missions). 2. This Circular applies to units and individuals engaged in consular work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and representative missions. Article 2. Consular blank prints and consular papers 1. Consular blank prints are papers, articles and documents which are produced or printed in blank forms for use in some or all processes of granting consular papers such as passports (diplomatic, official and ordinary passports), protective films for photos and other entry/exit papers prescribed by law; visas (sticker visas and loose-leaf visas); visa exemption certificates (sticker certificates and loose-leaf certificates); stamps AB; original birth certificates, original marriage certificates, and other blank forms in accordance with law. 2. Consular papers include papers granted on the basis of legal provisions relating to the functions, tasks and powers of the Consular Department, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations and representative missions. Article 3. Forms of lists, registers, records and reports 1. To issue together with this Circular the forms of lists, registers, records and reports serving consular work below: a/ Form No. 01/2020/NG-LS “List of diplomatic passport and official passport grantees”, to be used at the Consular Department, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations and representative missions; b/ Form No. 02/2020/NG-LS “List of diplomatic passport and official passport holders who have their passports extended, modified or supplemented”, to be used at the Consular Department, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations and representative missions; c/ Form No. 03/2020/NG-LS “List of diplomatic notes issued to request grant of visas”, to be used at the Consular Department, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations and representative missions; d/ Form No. 04/2020/NG-LS “List of Vietnamese citizens who are granted ordinary passports in foreign countries”, to be used at representative missions; dd/ Form No. 05/2020/NG-LS “List of Vietnamese citizens who have their ordinary passports modified or supplemented in foreign countries”, to be used at representative missions; e/ Form No. 06/2020/ND-LS “List of laissez-passer grantees”, to be used at representative missions; g/ Form No. 07/2020/NG-LS “List of visa grantees”, to be used at the Consular Department, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations and representative missions; h/ Form No. 08/2020/NG-LS “List of visa exemption certificate grantees”, to be used at representative missions; i/ Form No. 09/2020/NG-LS “List of judicial entrustment cases subject to monitoring”, to be used at the Consular Department and representative missions; k/ Form No. 10a/2020/NG-LS “Report on consular statistical data”, to be used at the Ho Chi Minh Department of External Relations; l/ Form No. 10b/2020/NG-LS “Report on consular statistical data”, to be used at representative missions; m/ Form No. 11/2020/NG-LS “Inventory record of damaged consular blank prints”, to be used at the Consular Department, the Ho Chi Minh Department of External Relations and representative missions; n/ Form No. 12/2020/NG-LS “Report on use of consular blank prints”, to be used at the Consular Department, the Ho Chi Minh Department of External Relations and representative missions; o/ Form No. 13/2020/NG-LS “List of stamp AB grantees”, to be used at representative missions. 2. The lists, registers, records and reports prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article may be created and made with data extracted from consular utility software used at the Consular Department, the Ho Chi Minh Department of External Relations and representative missions when technical conditions permit, for archive and reference purposes when necessary. Article 4. Competence to sign or authorize the signing of consular papers in the country 1. The Director of the Consular Department is competent to sign papers and documents as follows: a/ To sign for granting, extending, modifying and supplementing diplomatic passports and official passports; b/ To sign diplomatic notes to be sent to foreign representative missions; c/ To sign for granting visas and extending temporary residence for foreigners under the management of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; d/ To sign for consularly legalizing, consularly certifying or certifying papers and documents to be produced at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; dd/ To sign documents notifying or guiding consular administrative procedures to local foreign affairs agencies and representative missions; e/ To sign landing and take-off permits for foreign special flights carrying guests of the Party or the State and escorting flights or advance flights of these special flights to conduct civil flight activities in Vietnam; g/ To sign for issuing duplicates of civil status papers, for civil status events registered at representative missions, and other papers in accordance with law. 2. The assignment and authorization of the power to sign papers and documents by the Director of the Consular Department must comply with the following regulations: a/ Deputy Directors of the Consular Department may sign on behalf of the Director of the Consular Department the papers stated in Clause 1 of this Article as assigned by the Director of the Consular Department. b/ The Director of the Consular Department may authorize heads of functional divisions under the Consular Department to sign the papers and documents stated in Clause 1 of this Article but may not authorize the signing for granting, renewing, modifying and supplementing diplomatic passports and the signing of documents to be sent to heads of representative missions or all representative missions. c/ Deputy heads of functional divisions under the Consular Department may sign the papers and documents their heads are competent to sign as authorized by the Director of the Consular Department and assigned by their heads. 3. The Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations is competent to sign the papers stated at Points a and c, Clause 1 of this Article for subjects from Da Nang city southward; and sign the papers stated at Points b and d, Clause 1 of this Article. 4. The assignment and authorization of the power to sign papers and documents by the Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations must comply with the following regulations: a/ Deputy directors of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations may sign on behalf of the Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations the papers and documents stated in Clause 3 of this Article as assigned by the Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations. b/ The Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations may authorize the head of the Consular Division under the Department to sign the papers and documents the former is competent to sign but may not authorize the signing for granting, renewing, modifying or supplementing diplomatic passports. c/ Deputy heads of the Consular Division under the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations may sign the papers and documents the head of the Consular Division is competent to sign as authorized by the Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations and assigned by the head of the Consular Division. 5. Before a competent person or authorized or assigned person exercises the power of signing papers and documents under Clauses 1, 2, 3 and 4 of this Article, the Consular Department or the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations shall introduce his/her specimen signature to Vietnam-based foreign diplomatic missions and consular posts, related functional agencies in the country, and representative missions. Article 5. Competence to sign and authorize the signing of consular papers in foreign countries 1. Heads of representative missions are competent to sign for granting, extending, modifying and supplementing assorted passports and laissez-passers; sign diplomatic notes to be sent to foreign authorities; sign for granting assorted visas; sign for granting visa exemption certificates; sign for notarizing, certifying, consularly certifying and consularly legalizing papers and documents; and sign civil status and citizenship papers, official letters and other papers relating to consular work in accordance with law. 2. The authorization of the signing of the papers stated in Clause 1 of this Article by heads of representative missions is prescribed as follows: a/ Heads of representative missions may authorize diplomatic officers exercising consular functions or consular officers to sign the papers stated in Clause 1 of this Article; the authorization to sign for granting, renewing, modifying and supplementing diplomatic passports must comply with Point c of this Clause. b/ Authorized persons must meet the criteria prescribed in Article 17 of the Law on Overseas Representative Missions of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and have a valid certificate of completion of a further training course on consular operations, except cases exempt from such certificate. Based on the practical situation and requirements of consular work in their areas, heads of representative missions shall decide on the number of persons authorized to sign consular papers which, however, must not exceed 3 (three). Representative missions with heavy consular workload may exchange opinions and reach agreement in writing with the Consular Department for the latter to report their cases to the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for considering and deciding on the number of persons authorized to sign consular papers. However, the total number of persons competent to sign consular papers at a representative mission must not exceed 5 (five). c/ The head of a representative mission may consider authorizing a diplomatic officer exercising consular functions or a consular officer among the authorized persons mentioned at Point b of this Clause to sign for granting, extending, modifying and supplementing diplomatic passports. The diplomatic officer exercising consular functions or consular officer who is authorized under this Point shall only sign for granting, extending, modifying and supplementing diplomatic passports when the head of the representative mission cannot sign or is absent. 3. The process of authorization and termination of authorization must comply with the following regulations: a/ The authorization and termination of authorization to sign consular papers shall be notified in writing by heads of representative missions (or authorized deputy heads) to the Consular Department. A notice of authorization must state the full name and position of the authorized person and whether he/she is a new staff member or an alternative staff member, scope of authorization, period of authorization, and time of termination of authorization, in case such person is alternated or assigned to perform other tasks (if any), enclosed with information on completion of a further training course on consular operations and 9 specimen signatures of the authorized person. b/ Within 5 working days after receiving a notice, the Consular Department shall, pursuant to Clause 2 of this Article, send to the concerned representative mission a notice of acceptance or non-acceptance of the authorization, clearly stating the reasons in case of non-acceptance. c/ Authorized persons may sign consular papers after the Consular Department issues a notice of acceptance of the authorization. d/ The Consular Department shall notify specimen signatures of authorized persons, scope of authorization, time of commencement of authorization as well as termination of authorization to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations, the Immigration Department (the Ministry of Public Security), the Border Guard High Command (the Ministry of National Defense), the Department of Civil Status, Citizenship and Notarization (the Ministry of Justice), and other related agencies. dd/ Representative missions shall introduce specimen signatures of persons authorized to sign consular papers and scope of authorization to related foreign authorities after obtaining the Consular Department’s notices of acceptance of authorization. e/ In case an authorized person commits a serious violation when exercising the function of signing consular papers, the head of the concerned representative mission shall withdraw or terminate the authorization according to his/her competence, at the request of the Director of the Consular Department or under the direction of the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. g/ The Consular Department and representative missions shall manage and eternally retain notices of authorization and termination of authorization stated at Point a of this Clause. Chapter II PROCESS AND PRINCIPLES OF GRANTING CONSULAR PAPERS Article 6. Process of granting consular papers 1. The grant of consular papers at the Consular Department, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations, and representative missions shall be carried out according to a process with the steps of receiving dossiers, processing dossiers, notifying dossier processing results, and archiving dossiers, specifically as follows: a/ The step of receiving dossiers includes the jobs of examining the validity and completeness of dossiers; issuing dossier receipts and making appointments for notifying dossier processing results; issuing charge or fee estimation notices or charge or fee receipts; guiding the supplementation of dossiers unqualified for settlement; refusing to receive dossiers unqualified for settlement; and forwarding dossiers qualified for settlement to dossier-processing sections. b/ The step of processing dossiers include the jobs of making proposals on settlement of dossiers; approving the proposals; conducting examination and verification when necessary; inputting data, inscribing, printing, and affixing professional seals; submitting dossiers for signing and signing for granting consular papers; affixing the national emblem-carved seals; and transferring processed dossiers to sections in charge of notifying dossier-processing results. c/ The step of notifying dossier processing results include the jobs of making the final check of processed dossiers (information on processing of dossiers, charges/fees); rerunning papers and requesting recipients to sign for certifying the receipt of papers or return dossier receipts; and transferring dossiers to dossier-archiving sections. d/ The step of archiving dossiers include the jobs of arranging, making entries in registers or printing out lists from consular software, and archiving settled dossiers by type of consular affair, procedure and time of settlement. dd/ Charges/fees may be collected at the step of receiving dossiers or handing over granted consular papers to individuals and organizations, and information on charge/fee collection shall be notified and posted up at dossier-receiving sections and sections in charge of notifying dossier-processing results or under Article 9 of this Circular. 2. The Director of the Consular Department, the Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations and heads of representative missions shall organize the implementation of the process for granting consular papers prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article in conformity with the practical situation of their agencies and Article 7 of this Circular. Article 7. Principles of granting consular papers 1. Each staff member shall take charge of one or more than one job of the process of granting consular papers. At places where the consular workload is light or there is insufficient staff for each staff member to take charge of a single job, one person may take charge of several jobs in different steps of the process of granting consular papers provided that one person will not be assigned to settle all jobs as a closed process; invoice makers must not concurrently act as cashiers; those competent to sign consular papers will not be assigned to keep and affix the national emblem-carved seals on these papers; and those competent to sign or those assigned to keep and affix the national emblem-carved seals will not be concurrently tasked to manage consular blank prints. 2. The jobs of making proposals on settlement of dossiers; approving the proposals; conducting examination and verification; submitting dossiers for signing and signing for granting consular papers in the step of processing dossiers prescribed at Point b, Clause 1, Article 6 of this Circular shall be performed by civil servants of the Consular Department or the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations or diplomatic officers or consular officers of representative missions. Article 8. Principles of receipt of consular dossiers 1. Consular dossiers shall be received at working offices, unless it is permitted by law to receive dossiers outside working offices. 2. For consular procedures for which requesters may submit dossiers via authorized persons or authorized agencies or by post, the Consular Department, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations and representative missions shall receive dossiers according to regulations of these procedures. 3. The Director of the Consular Department, the Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations and heads of representative missions shall, based on the practical situation at their units and areas, prescribe in writing the receipt and settlement of consular dossiers via authorized subjects or by post on the basis of current regulations and guidance of the Consular Department. Article 9. Publicization of regulations on procedures The Consular Department, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations and representative missions shall publicize at their head offices and on their portals current regulations on procedures for grant of consular papers, charges and fees, and guest reception timetables. Chapter III MANAGEMENT OF CONSULAR BLANK PRINTS, ARCHIVE OF DOSSIERS AND CONSULAR REPORTING REGIME Article 10. Management and use of consular blank prints 1. Consular blank prints shall be managed and protected like secret documents. The Director of the Consular Department, the Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations and heads of representative missions shall organize the archive and use of consular blank prints in compliance with consular paper management and allocation, security and safety regulations and processes. 2. Consular blank prints which are unqualified for issuance, or damaged due to technical errors upon issuance (below collectively referred to as damaged consular blank prints) or use s

Circular 02/2020/TT-BNG