Marrying a Vietnamese Citizen in Da Nang: Office, Documents and Fee for Foreigners (2026)

Registering a marriage with a foreign element in Da Nang costs 1,500,000 VND, per the city's civil-status fee table under Resolution 05/2025/NQ-HĐND. A commune-level People's Committee registers it, in 5 working days, up to 10 if verification is needed. Civil-status fees are 0 VND for procedures done through online public services.

If you’re marrying a Vietnamese citizen in Da Nang, the first thing to get right is which office you’re dealing with. Decree 120/2025/NĐ-CP is in force from 1 July 2025. Under it, the commune-level People’s Committee (commune, ward or special zone) exercises the civil-status registration powers.

Those are the powers set out in clause 2 of Article 7 and in Chapter III of the 2014 Law on Civil Status. The same decree also sets the time limit for registering a marriage with a foreign element.

The Law on Civil Status itself has not been updated. Article 37 still names the district-level People’s Committee where the Vietnamese citizen resides as the registering office. If the foreigner resides in Vietnam, it names the district-level committee where either of you resides.

Article 38 of the same law, which describes how the certificate is handed over, likewise still names the chairperson of the district-level People’s Committee.

Conditions to marry

The man must be at least 20 years old and the woman at least 18. Both must marry voluntarily, and neither can have lost civil act capacity. The state does not recognise marriage between people of the same sex.

Each of you must also meet the marriage conditions of your own country. Because the marriage is registered at a Vietnamese state body, the foreign partner must meet Vietnam’s conditions too.

The marriage also must not fall into a prohibited case. The prohibited cases are:

• a sham marriage or a sham divorce
• child marriage, forced marriage, deceit in marrying, or obstructing someone else’s marriage
• marrying or living as spouses when either person is already married
• marrying or living as spouses between direct-line blood relatives, or relatives within three generations
• marrying or living as spouses between an adoptive parent and the adopted child, or a former adoptive parent and the adopted child
• marrying or living as spouses between a father-in-law and daughter-in-law, or a mother-in-law and son-in-law
• marrying or living as spouses between a stepfather and the wife’s child, or a stepmother and the husband’s child, from another relationship

The marriage file

Both of you submit a marriage-registration declaration form to the civil-status registration authority. You may fill it in jointly on a single form. Both of you also submit a certificate from a competent Vietnamese or foreign medical body. It must confirm you don’t have a mental illness or other condition that leaves you unable to perceive or control your own behaviour.

On top of that, the foreign partner submits a document proving their marital status. They also submit a copy of their passport or an equivalent travel document. A Vietnamese partner who has settled overseas submits the same two additional papers: the marital-status document and a passport copy or equivalent document.

That marital-status document must be issued by a competent foreign authority, and still valid, confirming they are currently not married. If that country issues no such confirmation, a document from a competent foreign authority confirming they meet the conditions to marry under that country’s law can replace it.

If the marital-status document states no expiry date, it and the medical confirmation are each valid only 6 months from the date of issue. If the foreign partner has no passport to show, an international travel document or a residence card can stand in for it.

If the Vietnamese partner has divorced, or had a marriage annulled, by a competent foreign authority, the office looks it up in the electronic civil-status and national population databases. If those databases don’t show the divorce or annulment recorded, the office directs the partner to have it entered in the civil-status register before it handles the marriage registration.

A Vietnamese partner who is a civil servant, a public employee, or serving in the armed forces additionally submits a document from their managing agency or unit. It must confirm that marrying a foreign national doesn’t conflict with the rules of their sector.

Copies in the dossier must be issued from the original register or certified from the original; if you submit an uncertified copy, you must show the original for comparison.

Foreign documents must be consularly legalised to be used in Vietnam, unless an exemption applies. Documents in a foreign language must also be translated into Vietnamese, with the translation notarised or the translator’s signature certified. Decree 111/2011/NĐ-CP, as amended by Decree 196/2025/NĐ-CP, lists the exemptions from consular legalisation:

• when a treaty Vietnam and the other country have both joined, or reciprocity, provides for it
• when they’re transferred directly or through diplomatic channels between competent authorities
• when Vietnamese law exempts them
• when a competent Vietnamese state agency doesn’t require a foreign document to be legalised, because it can establish the document’s authenticity itself

Processing time and presence

The time limit for registering a marriage with a foreign element is 5 working days from the day the office receives a complete, valid dossier. If verification is needed, the limit is extended, but to no more than 10 working days.

When you register, both of you must be at the People’s Committee office. The civil-status officer asks you both whether you consent and, if you’re marrying voluntarily, records it in the civil-status register, which you both sign. Then you both sign the marriage certificate before it’s handed over.

If one or both of you can’t collect the certificate, a written request extends the handover by up to 60 days from the day it is signed. If nobody collects it within the 60 days, the signed certificate is cancelled and you start the registration again.

What changes from 1 March 2027

A new Law on Civil Status takes effect on 1 March 2027, and the current law ceases to have effect on that date. Until then the rules above apply, and a dossier received earlier but not yet decided is still handled under the rules in force when it was received. For a marriage, the new text says:

• The commune-level People’s Committee registers a marriage between a Vietnamese citizen living in Vietnam and a foreign national, regardless of where the applicant lives. It also registers a marriage with a Vietnamese citizen living abroad or a stateless person of Vietnamese origin living in Vietnam. The current text ties it to the Vietnamese citizen’s residence.
• Both of you must be present to sign the marriage register and certificate, as now. The certificate is collected in person at the registration office.
• You may file online, by post or in person.
• Foreign papers must be consularly legalised unless exempt under a treaty or Vietnamese law.
• Foreign-language papers need a Vietnamese translation with the translator’s signature certified. The notarised-translation option in the current decree does not appear in the new text.
• The new law’s general rule is 24 hours from a complete, valid file where the civil-status rules set no deadline. The Government is to issue detailed rules for the registration articles, marriage included. Until those rules apply, the 5-working-day limit above from the current decree is the one to plan on.
• Fees are paid under the law on fees and charges. Ask the commune office what applies after that date.

Fee in Da Nang

Registering a marriage with a foreign element costs 1,500,000 VND in Da Nang, per the city’s civil-status fee table under Resolution 05/2025/NQ-HĐND.

Da Nang’s People’s Council passed Resolution 05/2025/NQ-HĐND on 11 November 2025, setting the subjects, rates and collection rules for civil-status fees across the city. Its fee table lists 1,500,000 VND for registering a marriage with a foreign element and the same amount for re-registering one. A marriage with a foreign element is one where at least one of you is a foreigner or a Vietnamese settled abroad.

Separately, Da Nang’s People’s Council passed Resolution 13/2025/NQ-HĐND on 11 December 2025. It sets a 0-VND fee for administrative procedures carried out through online public services in Da Nang, in force from 21 December 2025 to 31 December 2027. Civil-status fees are among the fees this resolution sets at 0 VND for online procedures.

Can you file online?

Civil-status fees are 0 VND when a procedure is carried out through online public services in Da Nang. Ask the commune office whether the marriage dossier can be filed online ahead of the in-person registration. Both of you have to be at the People’s Committee office in person to register, so at minimum the final step isn’t a remote one.

What comes next

Once you’re married, related reading includes temporary residence registration, a temporary residence card in Da Nang, and current Vietnam immigration fees. Vietnam tax residency rules matter too if you’re planning to stay long-term.

Bringing a pet into the mix? See bringing a dog or cat to Vietnam. For more on family life in Da Nang, see the family section hub.

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Not confirmed: Whether this marriage can be filed through online public services, which is the condition for a 0 VND fee instead of 1,500,000 VND. Whether the Vietnamese partner still needs a paper marital-status certificate. Whether you both have to attend when you file. Ask the registration office before you go.

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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