Consular Certification (Authentication) And Legalization In Viet Nam

What is Consular Certification and Legalization?

Consular certification means the competent Vietnamese agencies' certification of stamps, signatures, and titles on Vietnam's papers and documents for being recognized and used abroad.

Consular legalization means the competent Vietnamese agencies' certification of stamps, signatures, and titles on foreign papers and documents for being recognized and used in Vietnam.

Consular certification and legalization is simply certification of stamps, signatures, and titles on papers and documents, not covering certification of contents and forms of papers and documents.

Agencies competent to carry out consular certification and legalization

1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is competent to carry out consular certification and legalization.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs may authorize foreign affairs agencies of provinces and centrally run cities to receive dossiers of requests for consular certification or legalization.

2. Overseas Vietnamese diplomatic missions, consulates, or other agencies authorized to perform the consular function (below referred to as representative missions) are competent to carry out consular certification and legalization overseas.

Requesters for consular certification and legalization

1. Agencies, organizations, and individuals may request consular certification or legalization of their own papers and documents or others' without authorization paper.

2. Agencies, organizations, and individuals shall submit dossiers to competent consular certification and legalization agencies directly or through authorized foreign affairs agencies under Clause 1, Article 5 of this Decree or by post.

Languages of consular certification and legalization

The languages used for consular certification and legalization are both Vietnamese and English.

Overseas Vietnamese diplomatic missions, consulates or other agencies authorized to perform the consular function (hereinafter referred to as representative missions) may use the official language of the country where the papers and documents concerned are used in replacement of English.

Papers and documents prohibited from consular certification and legalization

1. Papers and documents containing modifications or erasures without proper correction as required by law.

2. Papers and documents in dossiers of request for consular certification or legalization containing contradictory details.

3. Forged or unduly issued or certified papers and documents according to law.

4. Papers and documents bearing non-original signatures or stamps.

5. Papers and documents with contents infringing upon the interests of the Vietnamese state.

The application for consular certification or legalization

1. Personal identification papers, including the ID card, passport, or passport substitute papers.

2. The copy of the personal identification paper (no authentication required).

3. Papers and documents requested for consular certification or legalization comprising 2 or more pages must be stamped on every)' two adjoining pages or tied and sealed or otherwise secured to ensure that these papers and documents can not be changed.

4. The translations of papers and documents (no authentication required). The applicants are responsible for the accuracy of these translations.

5. Papers and documents are not required to be enclosed with Vietnamese or English translations specified in Point e, Clause 1. Article 15 of the Decree are those made in Russian, French, Spanish, Chinese, or German applied for consular legalization at corresponding representative missions located in Russia, France, Spain, China, or Germany. This provision is also applicable to papers and documents made in other languages and applied for legalization at other representative missions as long as the officers that receive the applications in these representative missions can interpret such languages.

6. Applications for consular certification or legalization sent by post as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 6 of the Decree must be enclosed with an envelope specifying the recipient’s address.

Duration of Process

According to current regulations, The time limit for settlement is 1 working day after the date of receiving a complete and valid dossier. For a dossier comprising 10 or more papers and documents, the time limit for settlement may be longer but must not exceed 5 working days. But in practice, consular certification and legalization often take longer than the above regulation for the following reasons:

+ Only 2 competent agencies in Vietnam can carry out this procedure in Hanoi (Hanoi Consular Department)  and Ho Chi Minh (Ho Chi Minh City Department of Foreign Affairs)

+ The number of pending applications is high, so it takes time to wait

+ People in other provinces (except Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh) often have to take time to deliver letters by public post.

+ Dossiers prepared for submission are incomplete because the Client does not understand the process.

It is better for the client to be consulted by a lawyer to make this implementation simple, accurate, and time-saving.

For more information: Our Vietnamese social page or  English social page

Call Us: