Consular legalization of foreign documents to be used in Vietnam

In order to have your University Degree, Police check Marriage Certificate, Birth Certificate, etc. legally used in Vietnam, you need to have it certified by the diplomatic missions of your country in Vietnam and then consular legalized in Vietnam. The former procedure is called document authentication for use in Vietnam while the latter one is called consular legalization. In this post, we will learn about the latter as the former may vary depending on the diplomatic missions of foreign countries in Vietnam.

So:

Let’s study with us.

1. What is Consular Legalization in Vietnam?

According to the Government Decree No. No. 111/2011/ND-CP of December 5, 2011 on consular certification and legalization, consular legalization in Vietnam means the competent Vietnamese agencies’ certification of stamps, signatures and titles on papers and documents issued by foreign agencies for being recognized and used in Vietnam.

The consular legalization simply certifies stamps, signatures and titles on papers and documents, not certifying contents and forms of papers and documents.

2. Documents Exempted from Consular Legalization in Vietnam

According to article 9 of Decree No. No. 111/2011/ND-CP, the following 4 types of papers and documents will be exempted from consular legalization in Vietnam:

1. Papers and documents exempted from consular legalization under treaties to which Vietnam and foreign countries concerned are contracting parties, or on the reciprocity principle. You can see the list here.
2. Papers and documents delivered directly or via diplomatic channel between competent Vietnamese and foreign agencies.
3. Papers and documents exempted from consular legalization under Vietnamese laws.
4. Papers and documents not required of consular legalization by receiving Vietnamese or foreign agencies under relevant Vietnamese or foreign laws.

3. Requirements for Documents to Be Consular Legalized in Vietnam

First of all, to be consular legalized by the competent Vietnamese agencies, the papers and documents issued by the foreign agencies should satisfy the following requirements:

• They should not contain any modifications or erasures without proper correction as required by law.
• They should not contain contradictory details.
• They should not be forged or unduly issued or certified according to law.
• They should not bear non-original signatures or stamps.
• They should not contain contents infringing upon the interests of the Vietnamese state.

And then, before carrying out the consular legalization procedure, you must ensure that:

• Your paper or document comprising two or more pages must bear a seal appended on adjoining pages;
• your papers and documents must be first certified by overseas diplomatic missions, consulates or other authorized agencies of your country in Vietnam;
• your papers and documents must be translated into Vietnamese or English (if they are not prepared in those languages).

4. Where to Carry Out Consular Legalization in Vietnam?

In Vietnam, you may submit the application for consular legalization of your papers and documents to the following competent agencies:

• For consular legalization in Hanoi: Consular Department, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at 40 Tran Phu street, Ba Dinh district, Hanoi.
• For consular legalization in Saigon: Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at 6 Alexandre De Rhodes street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.
• Local external relations offices authorized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to receive consular legalization requests.

You can submit your application and receive the result on weekdays and Saturday mornings, except public holidays.

5. How to Consular Legalize Documents for Vietnam

To get our papers consular legalized in Vietnam, you need to follow the following steps:

Step 1. Prepare your application dossiers

As guided on the E-portal concerning Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,  the dossiers that you need to prepare for application for consular legalization in Vietnam shall include:

• 01 application for certification/legalization of documents – form LS/HPH-2012/TK (You can complete it online here and then print it out for submission)

• Original of the identification papers for the case of direct submission;
• 01 copy of identification papers for the case of submitting by mail;
• The requested document(s), which have been certified by foreign diplomatic missions, consular offices or other agencies;
• 01 translation of requested documents for consular legalization into Vietnamese or English, if such documents are not prepared in the above languages;
• 01 copy of documents mentioned in Items 4 and 5 for saving at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

In case of it is required to check authenticity of your documents; the dossier-receiving officials may request you to present original documents, relevant documents and submit 01 copy of these documents.

Step 2: Submit the application dossiers and pay the fee

You may submit your dossiers to one of the addresses mentioned above in person or by post. If your dossiers are not sufficient, the official there will request you to add. If your documents are sufficient, you will pay the consular legalization fee and get an appointment from the official.

Normally, the processing time is 1 working day since your submission of full required dossiers. However, if your papers or documents consist of at least 10 pages, it may take up to 5 working days for your consular legalization.   

Step 3: Receive the result

You can visit the office where you submit your application on the appointed date to receive your consular legalized papers or documents, or you can receive them by post, depending on your choice upon submission of your dossiers.

6. Consular Legalization Service in Vietnam

If you are not familiar with translation of your documents into Vietnamese o English, completion or application form for consular legalization, or the procedure itself, just contact us for assistance. If possible, we will also help you to find out the procedure for document authentication for use in Vietnam applied by the diplomatic mission of your home country.

Your benefits when using our Vietnam consular legalization service:

• No form completion.
• Fast and reliable processing. We will deliver the result to you within 03 working days.
• Payment by PayPal, bank transfer or card or cash.

Vietnam-visa.com guarantees the highest quality and reliability. We render all of our services in strict compliance with the applicable data protection laws of Vietnam. Our specialists are well-equipped and thoroughly acquainted with their tasks.

Working with us is easy and convenient!

Just leave us a message at Sales@Vietnam-visa.com or +84.946.583.583 (Call, Viber, WhatsApp) or https://www.facebook.com/VietnamVisaService/.