Decree No. 51-CP. On registration and management of household registration

DECREE

Decree No. 51-CP dated May 10, 1997 of the Government on registration and management of household registration

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THE GOVERNMENT

Pursuant to the Government Organization Law dated September 30, 1992;

To implement uniformly the registration and management of household registration, to strengthen social management, and protect citizens' lawful right to freedom of residence;

At the request of the Minister of Home Affairs,

DECREE:

Chapter 1:

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1.- Registration and management of household registration is an administrative management measure of the State aimed at determining citizens' place of residence, ensuring the implementation of citizens' rights and obligations, strengthening social management, maintaining political security, and social order and safety.

The Government assigns the Ministry of Interior to be responsible for the registration and management of household registration.

Article 2.- Every citizen of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has the right and obligation to register and manage household registration with the police agency as prescribed.

Every citizen must register their permanent household registration at their place of residence. When moving to a new place of residence, they must fully comply with the regulations on registration and management of household registration.

Article 3.- Those who are serving sentences handed down by the Court and those who are required to reside compulsorily under administrative supervision by local authorities shall not be allowed to transfer their permanent household registration to another place.

Those who are serving sentences or decisions of the Court or decisions of state agencies prohibiting residence in certain areas shall not be allowed to register their permanent household registration in those prohibited areas.

Article 4.- Those who have family relationships and live together in the same house shall register as one family household.

Each family household must have a head of household. The head of household is primarily responsible for implementing the regulations on registration and management of household registration within their household.

Article 5.- Those working in state agencies or economic-social organizations living alone in collective housing provided by their agencies shall register according to the collective population and each individual must directly register their household registration with the police agency. Each collective housing unit must have a person in charge, who is responsible for guiding and checking compliance with the regulations on registration and management of household registration for those living in the collective housing unit.

Article 6.- Officers, professional soldiers, non-commissioned officers, workers, and staff members of the People's Army and People's Public Security residing in military camps or collective housing provided by the army and public security shall register and manage household registration according to separate regulations of the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Interior.

Officers, professional soldiers, workers, and officials of the People's Army and People's Public Security who live daily with their families or have legal houses shall register their family household registration according to this Decree.

Citizens who are performing military service shall not be allowed to register family household registration.

Citizens not serving in the military or public security who reside in military camps or collective housing provided by the military or public security shall follow general regulations on registration and management of household registration.

Chapter 2:

REGISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT OF HOUSEHOLD REGISTRATION

Article 7.- Citizens aged 15 years and older have the obligation to accurately and completely fill out a personal declaration form according to a unified model of the Ministry of Interior.

Article 8.- Police agencies establish original household registers according to the residential area of administrative units or collective housing to serve the purpose of registration and management of household registration.

In addition to the register kept at the police agency, each organization that registers collective household registration must have a copy of its own collective population register for monitoring and management. This register does not replace the original household register kept at the police agency.

- Each family household has one family household register.

- In a house where multiple households reside, each household establishes a separate family household register.

- Each person registered in collective population is issued a certificate of collective population.

The original household register, family household register, and certificate of collective population mentioned above are issued by the police agency according to a unified model of the Ministry of Interior and are legal documents, serving as the basis for determining citizens' lawful place of residence.

Article 9.- When there are changes such as splitting households, merging households, establishing new households, changing surnames, given names, middle names, correcting birth dates, having newborns, deaths, or missing persons, going to perform military service, being permitted by competent state agencies to leave the country for more than 12 months, or being sentenced to imprisonment, educational rehabilitation centers, or educational facilities, the head of the household, the person in charge of collective housing, or the person experiencing the change must complete supplementary or adjustment registration procedures at the police agency where the permanent household registration is registered.

Splitting households, merging households, establishing new households.

Changing surnames, given names, middle names, correcting birth dates.

Having newborn children.

Deaths or disappearances.

Going to perform military service.

Being permitted by competent state agencies to leave the country for more than 12 months.

Being sentenced to imprisonment, educational rehabilitation centers, or educational facilities.

Article 10.- When transferring places of residence, the person transferring or the head of the household, or the person in charge of collective housing with someone transferring must go to the police agency where they currently reside to complete the transfer-out procedures.

Within no more than seven days if in a city or town, and no more than ten days if in rural areas, the newly arrived person or the newly arrived head of household must complete the procedures for registering permanent household registration with the police agency at the new place of residence.

The registration procedures include the following documents:

Identity card (for those aged 15 years and older).

Certificate of transfer-out.

Notification of change of permanent residence.

Certificate of legal housing.

Other relevant documents directly related to the change of place of residence (if any).

From the date of receiving all valid documents as prescribed, the police agency must complete the processing within ten days for cases transferring to rural areas, and twenty days for cases transferring to cities or towns.

Article 11.- To be able to register permanent household registration at the new place of arrival, the person arriving must have legal housing. Legal housing includes:

1. Housing owned by oneself.

2. Housing legally used: having a decision to allocate housing, having a lease contract.

3. Permission from the head of the household to reside in the legal housing of the head of the household. The housing must ensure hygiene, environment, and meet the minimum living area requirements as stipulated. It must not be in dispute or in an area designated for relocation.

The legal housing mentioned above must have sufficient documents confirming ownership or legal usage rights as prescribed by law.

Article 12.- In addition to having legal housing as prescribed in Article 11 above, those transferring permanent household registration to cities or towns (referred to collectively as cities) must also meet the following conditions:

1. For those transferred or recruited by state agencies with authority to work in urban areas:

a. Civil servants and employees who are transferred by the competent authority within the same sector or to another sector but with the same specialized profession to replace those civil servants and employees who have been transferred elsewhere, retired, taken leave due to health reasons, resigned, or been transferred to work elsewhere.

b. Civil servants and employees who were sent by the organizational body to study, work, or be on temporary assignment elsewhere, and now are decided by the competent authority to return to their previous place of residence to work.

c. Students graduating from universities, colleges, high schools, and vocational training institutions who are recruited by the competent authority at the Ministry level (for organizations under the central government) or by the provincial People's Committee (for organizations under the provincial or city level) within the quota of staff positions.

2. For officers, professional military personnel, workers, and employees of the People's Army and the People's Public Security who are currently working stably in a city and fall into one of the following cases, they may register a separate household registration for their family:

a. Living with father, mother, spouse, or children who are permanent residents in the city.

b. Female public security or military personnel who have established a family or have children.

c. Having worked continuously in the city for three years or more.

d. Retired.

3. In addition to the provisions in points 1 and 2 above, individuals falling into one of the following cases may also transfer their household registration to live with a person who has a permanent resident status in the city.

a. Civil servants and employees working in neighboring provinces or cities who return daily to eat and stay with their father, mother (if they have not married), spouse, or children who are permanent residents in the city.

b. Individuals who have reached retirement age, retired, or taken leave due to health reasons and request to move to live with their children or siblings (if they do not have a spouse or children) who are permanent residents in the city.

c. Individuals who have lost their ability to work, including disabled persons, those with mental disorders, or those with serious illnesses living with their father, mother, children, siblings, uncles, aunts, or guardians (if they do not have parents, spouses, or children) who are permanent residents in the city.

d. Individuals under 18 years old living with grandparents, siblings, uncles, aunts, or guardians (if they do not have parents) who are permanent residents in the city.

đ. A wife requests to live with her husband or a husband requests to live with his wife, where one of them is a permanent resident in the city.

e. Vietnamese citizens who have returned from abroad and are authorized to reside in the city.

g. Individuals who were originally permanent residents or natives of the city and went to serve in the military, work, study, or labor elsewhere (including abroad) and have now returned legally, along with those accompanying them as specified in points b, c, d, đ of Clause 3 of this Article.

h. Individuals who were originally permanent residents in the city and served time in prison or were serving administrative punishment decisions at educational facilities, treatment centers, etc., and have now returned upon completion of their sentences without being prohibited from residing in the city.

4. In special cases, the Director of the City Police must report to the Chairman of the City People's Committee and the Minister of Interior for a decision.

Article 13.- The Ministry of Interior directs all levels of police to regularly grasp the number of various types of residents and household registrations in each locality; timely adjust statistics on changes in household and resident registrations, and implement strict management measures for each type of household registration and resident; promote the dissemination of regulations on registering and managing household registrations; inspect compliance and handle violations in this field according to the law.

Chapter 3:

REGISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT OF TEMPORARY RESIDENCE AND ABSENCE

Article 14.- Individuals aged 15 and over staying overnight outside their usual place of residence in another ward, town, or commune must report temporary residence as prescribed. If parents, spouse, or children frequently stay temporarily at each other's homes, they should declare once a year.

Article 15.- The following cases must register temporary residence for a limited period as prescribed:

1. Individuals actually residing in the locality but not yet meeting the necessary procedures and conditions to register permanent household registration.

2. Individuals coming from elsewhere to study, work, or engage in freelance labor.

3. Individuals recruited to work at state agencies, organizations, enterprises of all economic sectors, representative offices, or branches of foreign countries in Vietnam's provinces or cities.

Article 16.- Individuals aged 15 and over who need to be absent overnight from the district, city, town, or county where they usually reside must declare temporary absence as prescribed.

Individuals who have been away from their registered place of permanent residence for more than six months without declaring temporary absence and without a valid reason will have their names removed from the household registration book; when returning, they must reapply for permanent household registration as prescribed.

Individuals with permanent household registration but actually not residing at the registered address without a valid reason, or unable to reside there, the household registration management agency must remove their names from the household registration book.

- The Ministry of Interior provides detailed guidance on the procedures for temporary residence and temporary absence registration.

Chapter 4:

SETTLEMENT OF COMPLAINTS AND REPORTS AND HANDLING OF VIOLATIONS

Article 17.- Local agencies and organizations are not allowed to arbitrarily change or violate the regulations on household registration management stipulated in this Decree. For cases of violation, the Ministry of Interior has the right to suspend or recommend the Prime Minister to issue a decision to revoke such actions.

Article 18.- Citizens have the responsibility to comply with the regulations on household registration management stipulated in this Decree and have the right to lodge complaints or denunciations against individuals or organizations that fail to comply with these regulations, refuse, intentionally delay, or create difficulties and harassment when handling household registration and management matters.

The agency receiving complaints and denunciations has the responsibility to examine and resolve them according to the Law on Complaints and Denunciations of Citizens.

Article 19.- Any act of tampering with documents, making false declarations to register household registration, or taking advantage of household registration management to engage in illegal activities shall be subject to administrative penalties or criminal prosecution depending on the severity of the violation.

Individuals responsible for handling household registration and management who violate the provisions of this Decree or take advantage of their position to harass or cause inconvenience to citizens shall be subject to administrative disciplinary action or criminal prosecution depending on the nature and severity of the violation.

Chapter 5:

IMPLEMENTING PROVISIONS

Article 20.- This Decree replaces Decree No. 04/HĐBT dated January 7, 1988, issued by the Council of Ministers (now the Government), on the Regulations on Household Registration Management and shall take effect from July 15, 1997. All previous provisions contrary to this Decree are abolished.

The Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the National Committee for Population and Family Planning, and the General Statistics Office are responsible for coordinating household registration work with civil status registration, labor registration, population statistics, and family planning activities to ensure consistency in the situation and data reported to serve social management requirements and to serve the people's needs.

The Ministry of Interior shall coordinate with relevant ministries and sectors to apply advanced technology and streamline administrative procedures in household registration and management work.

The Chairman of the People's Committee of provinces and centrally governed cities is responsible for directing the implementation of household registration and management work in their respective localities.

The Ministry of Interior is responsible for guiding, supervising, directing, urging, and ensuring uniform implementation of this Decree throughout the country.

Article 21.- Ministers of ministries, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of agencies under the Government, Chairmen of provincial people's committees directly under the central government are responsible for enforcing this Decree.