The Most Important Thing To Know About Marriage In Vietnam

@OceanBeach92107

Good info, OB. Thank you for that.

(and here was me thinking the most important thing was to never, ever, ever forget...

cắt-cắt-cắt!)

I did discover this the hard way. Every post, everywhere that speaks with authority without stating this, causes so much confusion. I hope many people will see this post as well as share it.

...
This is the most important piece of information because it will direct you as to which documents are absolutely necessary in that province.

Most embassies & consulates make a list available, but those lists cover all possible documents required in Vietnam.

You are only responsible for the documents required by the province where you'll be married. ...

   

    -@OceanBeach92107

This explains why the official who took our marriage documents handed 3 or 4 back to us and said they weren't needed.   As you can see I can't even remember the exact number and certainly not which documents he didn't need.  However having every document on the Embassy list, we had it covered.    If your prospective spouse can get the provincial list, then great, but if not and you get everything, you are out a lot of time and a bit of money.

And this is why I got married in Australia not Vietnam, less complications and hassle.

    If you (a foreigner) are planning on marrying a Vietnamese citizen, there is one piece of information that must be considered first:
Because marriage requirements are determined by individual provinces and provincial cities, THE VIETNAMESE CITIZEN must FIRST obtain the official list of requirements from the provincial People's Committee.

You (the foreigner) will not be allowed to obtain this.

Only your fiancée/fiancé or one of that person's parents.

If you are marrying a Vietnamese woman, be prepared for her to resist doing this herself.

She may tell you to get the official information sheet, but that won't be possible.

This is the most important piece of information because it will direct you as to which documents are absolutely necessary in that province.

Most embassies & consulates make a list available, but those lists cover all possible documents required in Vietnam.

You are only responsible for the documents required by the province where you'll be married.

No one in the forum can give you that official information.

They can only share anecdotal information which is often incomplete or confusing and lacking the correct document name.

Good luck with the process.
   

    -@OceanBeach92107

Fortunately I do not plan to marry before your age haha

@OceanBeach92107 did have to do a letter of no marriage? Can you make a post about this? thanks

    @OceanBeach92107 did have to do a letter of no marriage? Can you make a post about this? thanks        -@tracydinh1988

Post from OceanBeach92107, here.(Link)

"So, I have one additional document from my home county in California: A report of "no marriage record found", certified as official by the county clerk's office."

Also, under our "Search the Vietnam forum" function, see here. (Link)

    @OceanBeach92107 did have to do a letter of no marriage? Can you make a post about this? thanks
   

    -@tracydinh1988

It's called a record (or report) of no marriage.

Do you know in fact that it's required in the province of your fiance AND based upon what you will write on your statement of single status?

Every province I know of requires the statement of single status but not all require the record of no marriage. 

What does your fiance say?

What single status are you reporting?

1. Single, never married

2. Divorced

or

3. Widowed

The requirement for a record/report of no marriage may vary in your province, depending on the single status you are reporting.

Some certificates such as that "report of no married" are not so literally for foreigners...   It will always depend how is issued by your home country...  So, a Civil Status Cert or Marital Status Cert is perfectly accepted attached to a public notarized Sworn/Affidavit that: it's my  will to marry [FianceName] vietnamese citizen and not to have any impediment pursuant the laws of [MyCountry] and Vietnam.  The only condition is this papers are only accepted within 180 days to the date of submit your dossier.... So be careful of the time for requesting, notarizing, legalizing, VN-Stamping, translating, sending...  bla bla bla.

In fact all the requisites are the same since are written in the National Law Decrees and Circulars, the real issue is how the counters understand some documentation such as the "divorce decree" or "mental health" or "police clearance"  or how they want to keep their "immutable standard templates" of their own local forms... 

In my case I downloaded my forms from internet, which have all the params as the local template of the local comitee, but bilingual and in different typefonts...  My wife almost faint when she received my signed docs via Fedex, but fortunally the agent in that Comitee was not care about it, info is info to him. 

In conclusion, lawfully,  @OceanBeach92107  could could could be wrong,  but this is Vietnam and in the real practis @OceanBeach92107 is tooootally right  and this is too worthy rather to fight againts what the Counters/Agents want over/further the law

Another very important thing for a foreigner who want to married vietnamese citizen, is to consider to include the wish of both to keep separated assets... Because if the couple wants to buy a land or a house or to make a bank loan, your condition as a foreigner will limit those possibilities

    Some certificates such as that "report of no married" are not so literally for foreigners...   It will always depend how is issued by your home country...  So, a Civil Status Cert or Marital Status Cert is perfectly accepted attached to a public notarized Sworn/Affidavit that: it's my  will to marry [FianceName] vietnamese citizen and not to have any impediment pursuant the laws of [MyCountry] and Vietnam.  The only condition is this papers are only accepted within 180 days to the date of submit your dossier.... So be careful of the time for requesting, notarizing, legalizing, VN-Stamping, translating, sending...  bla bla bla.
In fact all the requisites are the same since are written in the National Law Decrees and Circulars, the real issue is how the counters understand some documentation such as the "divorce decree" or "mental health" or "police clearance"  or how they want to keep their "immutable standard templates" of their own local forms... 

In my case I downloaded my forms from internet, which have all the params as the local template of the local comitee, but bilingual and in different typefonts...  My wife almost faint when she received my signed docs via Fedex, but fortunally the agent in that Comitee was not care about it, info is info to him. 

In conclusion, lawfully,  @OceanBeach92107  could could could be wrong,  but this is Vietnam and in the real practis @OceanBeach92107 is tooootally right  and this is too worthy rather to fight againts what the Counters/Agents want over/further the law -@ajairon

It seems you formulated this post in response to my post in an entirely different thread:

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1048639#5788047

Thus, your reply here is out of context, not making a lot of sense to the casual reader.

    Another very important thing for a foreigner who want to married vietnamese citizen, is to consider to include the wish of both to keep separated assets... Because if the couple wants to buy a land or a house or to make a bank loan, your condition as a foreigner will limit those possibilities
   

    -@ajairon

Again, your other reply here is somewhat off topic.

Have you ever considered creating your own original threads when you feel compelled to opine on a particular subject?

Instead it seems that if the words "US citizen" appear in a topic, you are compelled to toss in your 2 cents, even though you only have firsthand experience with Ecuadorian centavos.

@OceanBeach92107 where is it mentioned this post is for US Citizen? hey man do you really think some procedures are addressed only for united statians??  do a little research to know how much is the value of two centavos ecuatorianos, because really, your prior message is scratching discrimination

    @OceanBeach92107 where is it mentioned this post is for US Citizen? hey man do you really think some procedures are addressed only for united statians??  do a little research to know how much is the value of two centavos ecuatorianos, because really, your prior message is scratching discrimination
   

    -@ajairon

Thankfully, due to modern progressive thinking, I can blame you for causing me to make mistakes and behave badly...

😉