New Vietnam passport to include place of birth this week

The Public Security Ministry has asked the Vietnam Immigration Department and overseas representative agencies with the function of issuing passports to Vietnamese residents to begin printing the place of birth information in the note section of the new passport starting Thursday, Lieutenant General To An Xo, the ministry's spokesman, said Monday, as cited by the Vietnam Government Portal.

The ministry will also submit to the government and the National Assembly's Standing Committee a report on a resolution to include birthplace information in the information page of all Vietnamese passports.

Several countries had said that they would only issue visas to holders of the new Vietnamese passport if they have birthplace information added and officially stamped.

The new Vietnamese passport has been in use since July 1 this year. Each page of the new passport is printed with images of popular Vietnamese scenic landscapes and cultural heritages.

The old, green cover passports will continue to be valid till they expire.

Minister of Public Security To Lam said last month that birthplace info would be added to the new passports manually and citizens could go to the local immigration office or Vietnamese representative agencies abroad to get this done.

Yet he said the information was not an absolute requirement under International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) regulations.

It is not mandated by the Law on Entry and Exit of Vietnamese Citizens either, he said.