Registering a Birth in Vietnam With a Foreign Parent: Deadline, Office and Nationality (2026)

Register your child's birth within 60 days. The commune-level People's Committee handles it since Decree 120/2025/NĐ-CP. With one Vietnamese parent, the child has Vietnamese nationality if you agree to choose it; without agreement, a child born in Vietnam still gets it. Choosing a foreign nationality costs 50,000 VND in Da Nang.

You have 60 days from your child’s birth to register it. Here’s the deadline as the Law on Civil Status states it.

Trong thời hạn 60 ngày kể từ ngày sinh con, cha hoặc mẹ có trách nhiệm đăng ký khai sinh cho con; trường hợp cha, mẹ không thể đăng ký khai sinh cho con thì ông hoặc bà hoặc người thân thích khác hoặc cá nhân, tổ chức đang nuôi dưỡng trẻ em có trách nhiệm đăng ký khai sinh cho trẻ em.

“Within 60 days of the child’s birth, the father or mother is responsible for registering it; if they can’t, the grandparents, another close relative, or whoever is caring for the child must.”

Luật Hộ tịch 60/2014/QH13, Điều 15 khoản 1

Register with the commune-level People’s Committee. That office now exercises this power.

Ủy ban nhân dân xã, phường, đặc khu thực hiện thẩm quyền đăng ký hộ tịch quy định tại khoản 2 Điều 7, Chương III của Luật Hộ tịch năm 2014

“The commune-level People’s Committee — commune, ward or special zone — exercises the civil-status registration powers set out in clause 2 of Article 7 and Chapter III of the 2014 Law on Civil Status.”

Nghị định 120/2025/NĐ-CP, Điều 4 khoản 1

The Law on Civil Status itself still names the district-level People’s Committee for a birth with a foreign element. That covers a birth in Vietnam where one parent is Vietnamese and the other a foreign national or stateless person, or where both parents are foreign nationals or stateless persons. The commune-level office above has held that power since Decree 120/2025/NĐ-CP.

Steps to register the birth

1. Register within 60 days. The father or mother normally does it. If they can’t, a grandparent, another close relative, or whoever is caring for the child must.
2. Bring the declaration and Giấy chứng sinh. Submit the birth-registration declaration and the original Giấy chứng sinh (Birth Notification), or the document replacing it.
3. Add the parents’ nationality agreement, if needed. If one or both parents are foreign nationals, submit a written agreement between the parents choosing the child’s nationality. Choosing a foreign nationality needs that country’s own confirmation on the agreement.
4. File at the commune-level People’s Committee. File where the father or mother resides.
5. Get the birth recorded. Once the documents are complete and consistent, the official records the birth immediately and issues the certificate.
6. Pay the fee. 50,000 VND in Da Nang when the parents choose a foreign nationality for the child.

Which nationality will your child have?

If one parent is a Vietnamese citizen

A child with a Vietnamese parent and a stateless parent has Vietnamese nationality automatically, as does a child whose mother is Vietnamese and whose father isn’t identified.

With one Vietnamese parent and one foreign-national parent, here’s the rule that decides it:

a) Trẻ em có quốc tịch Việt Nam nếu cha mẹ thỏa thuận lựa chọn quốc tịch Việt Nam cho con khi thực hiện đăng ký khai sinh. b) Trường hợp trẻ em được sinh ra trên lãnh thổ Việt Nam mà cha mẹ không thỏa thuận được việc lựa chọn quốc tịch cho con khi thực hiện đăng ký khai sinh thì trẻ em đó có quốc tịch Việt Nam. Cha hoặc mẹ lập văn bản cam đoan về việc không thỏa thuận được việc lựa chọn quốc tịch cho con và chịu trách nhiệm về việc cam đoan này.

“The child has Vietnamese nationality if the parents agree to choose it when registering the birth. If they can’t agree and the child is born on Vietnamese territory, the child still has Vietnamese nationality; one parent must sign a written declaration that they couldn’t agree, and takes responsibility for it.”

Nghị định 191/2025/NĐ-CP, Điều 9 khoản 1 điểm a, b

If the child was already registered abroad with a foreign nationality, they can still get Vietnamese nationality when the birth is recorded in Vietnam’s civil-status register. That needs your agreement to choose it, and keeping the foreign nationality must be consistent with that country’s own law. You then sign a written declaration that keeping the foreign nationality is consistent with that country’s law.

A child holding both nationalities can have a combined Vietnamese-and-foreign name when the birth is registered.

If both parents are foreign nationals

No source found states what nationality Vietnamese law gives a child of two foreign national parents born in Vietnam. Check your own country’s or your embassy’s rule.

The birth is still registered at the commune-level People’s Committee, within 60 days.

For the child’s own papers: a child under 14 who shares a passport with a parent or guardian gets a visa jointly with that passport. Otherwise a visa goes into the child’s own passport, or is issued as a loose sheet.

If both parents are stateless persons

A child born in Vietnam to two stateless parents has Vietnamese nationality if the parents have a place of permanent residence in Vietnam. The same applies if the mother is stateless with permanent residence in Vietnam and the father isn’t identified.

Fee in Da Nang

Da Nang’s civil-status fee schedule sets these fees for a birth with a foreign element:

What comes next

Related family paperwork: marrying a Vietnamese citizen in Da Nang and bringing a pet into Vietnam follow their own registration steps. Once your child has papers, see temporary residence registration and current Vietnam immigration fees. For more, see the family section hub.

Not confirmed: No source found states what nationality Vietnamese law gives a child of two foreign national parents born in Vietnam. Check your own country's or your embassy's rule instead. Article 16 of the Nationality Law only covers a Vietnamese parent paired with a stateless or foreign parent. Article 17 only covers stateless parents. A newer decree reportedly changes the identity document shown at the registration desk, but no verified wording was found, so this article omits that requirement. Filing the dossier online, and the exact wording of a further circular on the parents' written declaration, are both unconfirmed. Da Nang's fee schedule lists 50,000 VND only for choosing a foreign nationality for the child; no fee for choosing Vietnamese nationality appears in it.

General information checked against the sources listed above, not legal advice for your situation. Rules and office practice change; confirm with the immigration office or a licensed adviser before you act. See how guides are checked.

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