Vietnam SIM Card Registration for Foreigners: The Passport Rule (2026)

A foreign national registers a Vietnam SIM with a passport valid for their stay, in person at a carrier point, or online for the first 3 numbers. A carrier may serve you only once that information is registered and authenticated. Missing or mismatched information gets a one-way cut, a two-way cut, then termination.

A Vietnamese carrier switches on your line only once your subscriber information clears one bar.

Doanh nghiệp viễn thông chỉ được cung cấp dịch vụ viễn thông cho thuê bao di động mặt đất sau khi bảo đảm đầy đủ các nội dung sau: … Thuê bao viễn thông di động mặt đất đã hoàn thành đăng ký thông tin thuê bao theo quy định … Doanh nghiệp đã hoàn thành việc xác thực, lưu giữ thông tin thuê bao di động mặt đất đầy đủ, chính xác theo quy định.

A carrier may provide telecom service to a mobile subscriber only once that subscriber has completed information registration and the carrier has completed authenticating and storing that subscriber’s information, in full and accurately, as required.

Nghị định 163/2024/NĐ-CP, Điều 20

Fail that, and the decree cuts your line in stages: notice, one-way cut, two-way cut, contract end.

Which document you use

Đối với người có quốc tịch nước ngoài: Hộ chiếu còn thời hạn sử dụng ở Việt Nam theo thị thực nhập cảnh hoặc theo thời hạn lưu trú tối đa với các nước được miễn thị thực hoặc tài khoản định danh điện tử theo quy định của pháp luật.

A foreign national registering mobile subscriber information must present a passport still valid for use in Vietnam under their entry visa, or for the maximum stay period allowed to a visa-exempt country’s nationals, or an electronic identity account as provided by law.

Nghị định 163/2024/NĐ-CP, Điều 17 khoản 1 điểm b

A carrier must serve you only when your subscriber information is complete and matches the ID document you presented. You must give the carrier complete, accurate information when you sign the contract. You can’t use your own passport to register a number for someone else, except where telecom law allows it.

How many numbers, and where to register

Registration happens in one of three ways, and only one of them is online.

• In person, at a point the carrier itself owns and sets up.
• In person, at a fixed-address point run by another business, under an authorization contract with the carrier.
• Online, through the carrier’s own app — but only for the first 3 numbers on one identity document.

For those first 3 numbers, you present your documents and sign a paper or electronic subscriber-information confirmation form.

If you already hold three numbers on this passport

From the fourth number onward, you sign a formal-template service contract in person, at a fixed-address point the carrier itself has set up.

If your SIM isn’t registered correctly

When a carrier finds your subscriber information doesn’t comply, it must notify you at least once a day for 5 days, asking you to re-sign the contract with correct information. Miss that, and the cuts follow on a fixed schedule.

The 2026 re-verification campaign

A 2026 circular set extra authentication for foreign nationals who register with a passport still valid for their stay. For every number such a person registered, the carrier had to fully apply the extra measures in Điều 18 khoản 2 điểm b and điểm c of Nghị định 163/2024/NĐ-CP.

Those extra measures were a one-time code (OTP) sent to the subscriber’s previously registered SIM, for the second number onward. They also required a recorded video call to collect, check and verify the customer’s identifying information.

Within 60 days of the circular taking effect, carriers had to notify affected subscribers and finish re-authenticating every number a foreign national had registered with a passport. A subscriber who wasn’t re-verified had outgoing service suspended. After that deadline, an unverified number also lost two-way service, with the contract terminated 5 days later if it still wasn’t fixed.

The circular took effect from 15 April 2026, except Điều 8, which took effect from 15 June 2026.

At the carrier shop

1. Bring a passport still valid for your stay in Vietnam, or for the maximum stay period your visa exemption allows.
2. For your first 3 numbers with a carrier, go to any of its own points, an authorized fixed-address point, or register online, then sign the confirmation form.
3. For a later number, sign a formal-template contract in person at a point the carrier itself owns.
4. Buying from VinaPhone: also bring a valid guarantee letter from your embassy, or from the agency, organisation or representative office where you work — VNPT says on its own retail site.

5. Registering a Viettel eSIM: Viettel says on its own eSIM page that a foreign national needs a passport still valid under Vietnamese law.
6. Registering or converting a MobiFone eSIM: MobiFone says on its own eSIM page it accepts an original CCCD or an original passport.

Fines

These penalties apply to Vietnamese organisations, business households and individuals, and to foreign organisations and individuals. Nghị định 174/2026/NĐ-CP has set them since 1 July 2026. The figures below are the fine for an organisation — an individual who commits the same violation pays half.

Not confirmed: Whether a foreign national can complete eSIM registration fully online through a carrier's app, or must always visit a store in person, is not confirmed. Viettel's eSIM FAQ names a passport as the required document but describes registration happening at a Viettel store. MobiFone's eSIM page accepts a passport and mentions both its app and in-store options, without saying which applies to foreign nationals. Neither carrier page confirms a fully online path for foreigners. Whether a separate fine applies to a foreign national who knowingly uses a SIM someone else already registered, rather than the person who did the registering, is also not confirmed. Điều 34 khoản 1 điểm a of Nghị định 174/2026/NĐ-CP fines registering with inaccurate information or another person's ID document. It does not separately fine using an already-mis-registered SIM.

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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