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Exemption from Consular Legalization in Vietnam
In the context of increasing international integration, the need to use documents and paperwork between countries for administrative, legal, commercial, educational, and labor purposes is increasing. Typically, a foreign document needs to go through the consular legalization procedure process of verifying the authenticity of the document to be legally used in the receiving country—to be recognized legally in another country. However, to simplify procedures and facilitate international transactions, many countries have signed agreements to exempt consular legalization, saving time, costs, and promoting bilateral and multilateral cooperation.
So, what is consular legalization? What cases of exemption from consular legalization? What types of documents are exempt? And what is the list of countries exempt according to Vietnamese law? This article will clarify these issues.
What is Consular Legalization?
Definition
Consular legalization is a procedure conducted by a competent authority of a country to verify the seal, signature, and title on documents and paperwork issued by a foreign competent authority so that the document can be recognized and used in Vietnam.
In other words, this is a process that helps a foreign document to have legal value in Vietnam or vice versa, a document issued by Vietnam can be recognized abroad.
Characteristics
- Ensures the authenticity of documents and paperwork between countries.
- Prevents the use of fake documents in legal and administrative transactions.
- Meets the legal requirements of countries regarding the recognition of foreign documents.
However, in some cases, documents can be exempt from consular legalization to facilitate and reduce the time and cost for citizens and businesses when performing international administrative procedures.
Refer to the article “5 Steps to Complete Vietnamese Consular Legalization” to learn more about the consular legalization process.
Cases of Exemption from Consular Legalization
Not all foreign documents and paperwork need to go through consular legalization. According to Vietnamese law, the following cases are exempt from consular legalization:
- Exemption based on international treaties or reciprocity principle
This applies when Vietnam and the related country are members of an international treaty stipulating the exemption of consular legalization for certain types of documents.
Additionally, in some cases, even if the two countries do not have a common international treaty, if there is a bilateral agreement or the principle of reciprocity is applied, the documents of one country can be recognized in the other without consular legalization.
Examples:
- Vietnam has signed bilateral agreements with Russia, France, Japan, China, Belarus, and Germany to exempt consular legalization for certain civil, educational, and judicial documents.
- Vietnam and ASEAN countries have agreements recognizing educational qualifications without consular legalization.
- Documents directly or through diplomatic channels between competent authorities of Vietnam and abroad
Papers and documents sent directly between Vietnamese and foreign state agencies via diplomatic channels are exempt from consular certification and consular legalization because they have been directly certified by the competent authority.
This transfer ensures the authenticity of the document without the need for additional legalization procedures.
Examples:
- Official documents exchanged between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam and the foreign diplomatic agency.
- Legal documents sent directly between the Vietnamese court and the foreign judicial authority according to the judicial cooperation agreement.
- Documents on extradition, criminal investigation cooperation, or information exchange between judicial authorities.
- Papers and documents are exempted from consular certification and consular legalization according to the provisions of the law. Some types of papers are stipulated by Vietnamese law as not requiring consular certification or consular legalization when used in Vietnam.
This exemption may apply to administrative papers issued by state agencies or documents of high legal value.
Examples:
- Passports, travel documents, entry/exit documents issued by foreign competent authorities.
- Civil status documents such as birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates, if within the exemption scope as specified.
- Diplomas, education certificates recognized according to the agreement between Vietnam and foreign countries.
- Certificates of origin (C/O), quarantine certificates, quality certificates of goods if recognized by competent authorities.
- Documents not required by Vietnamese or foreign receiving authorities to be legalized, according to corresponding Vietnamese or foreign laws
In some cases, even without an international treaty or specific legal regulation, the receiving authority in Vietnam or abroad may decide not to require consular legalization for certain types of documents.
This usually applies when there is a high level of trust between the two administrative systems or when the document has been authenticated in another way without the need for consular legalization.
Examples:
- Some foreign companies in Vietnam accept educational degrees and professional certificates without requiring consular legalization.
- Embassies and consulates may accept certain documents issued by domestic authorities without requiring consular legalization.
- Visa applications and work permits may not require consular legalization if exempted by the receiving country's immigration authority.
Documents of Exemption from Consular Legalization
As analyzed above, the commonly exempted documents include:
Civil status documents
Birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates.
Educational documents
Degrees, certificates, transcripts recognized between countries with bilateral agreements.
Judicial documents
Judicial records, enforceable court decisions.
Commercial documents
- Certificates of origin (C/O), quality certificates (C/Q) of goods in international trade.
Documents issued by diplomatic representatives
Passports, visas.
Documents used for judicial support purposes
- Civil (commercial, family, labor) and criminal documents.
Countries of Exemption from Consular Legalization
According to the Agreements Vietnam has participated in, a total of 30 countries are exempt from consular certification/legalization. Here is the list of 30 countries exempt from consular legalization/certification along with the corresponding documents exempted:
- Republic of Afghanistan
Exemption of consular legalization/certification for documents under the consular officer’s authority issued by the diplomatic agency of this country in the other country.
- Republic of Algeria
Exemption of consular legalization/certification for documents and paperwork used for judicial assistance purposes in criminal matters issued by the competent authorities of the two parties for judicial assistance purposes and transferred through central authorities according to the Agreement.
Exemption of consular legalization/certification for civil and commercial documents with the official signature and seal of the competent authority issued for judicial assistance purposes and transferred through central authorities according to the Agreement.
- Republic of Poland
Exemption of consular legalization/certification for civil, marriage and family, and criminal documents issued by the competent state authorities of the two parties.
Exemption of consular legalization/certification for documents under the consular officer’s authority issued by the diplomatic agency of this country in the other country.
- Republic of Belarus
Exemption of consular legalization/certification for civil (commercial), family, labor, and criminal documents issued by competent state authorities.
Exemption of consular legalization/certification for documents under the consular officer’s authority issued by the diplomatic agency of this country in the other country.
- Kingdom of Cambodia
Exemption from consular legalization of documents used for birth registration, settlement of marriages, recognition of fathers, mothers, and children with foreign elements, and death certificates for foreigners residing permanently in border areas, issued by competent State agencies of Cambodia.
Exemption from consular legalization of public documents and papers used for the purpose of civil judicial assistance by competent State agencies of both sides if transferred through communication channels according to the provisions of the Agreement.
Exemption from consular legalization/certification of documents under the authority of consular officers issued by the Representative Office of one country in another country.
- Republic of Kazakhstan
Exemption from legalization/consular certification of Court judgments, decisions, or extracts of Court judgments, decisions, or other necessary documents related to the civil status of citizens of the Contracting Party issued by competent State agencies, if transferred through communication channels as prescribed in the Agreement.
- Republic of Cuba
Exemption from legalization/consular certification of civil, family, criminal, and labor documents issued by competent State agencies of the two Parties.
Exemption from legalization/consular certification of documents under the authority of consular officers issued by the Representative Office of one country in another country.
- Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Exemption from consular legalization/certification of documents used for the purpose of civil and criminal judicial assistance issued by competent State agencies of both sides if used for judicial assistance.
- Taiwan (China)
Exemption from consular legalization/certification of civil, commercial, marriage, family, and labor documents with official signatures and seals of competent authorities, issued by competent State agencies of the two Parties if used for the purpose of judicial assistance under the Agreement.
- Kingdom of Denmark
Exemption from the legalization of documents used for adoption issued by competent authorities of both Parties.
- Kingdom of the Netherlands
Exemption from the legalization of Vietnamese papers and documents that have been consular certified at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam by a competent authority of Vietnam (Only applicable to Vietnamese papers).
- Republic of Hungary
Exemption from legalization/consular certification of public documents issued by the authorities of one Contracting Party or private documents notarized/authenticated such as certificates of registration, signature, or identification issued by the competent authorities of the two Parties if such documents are transmitted through communication channels in accordance with the provisions of the Agreement.
Exemption from legalization/consular certification of documents under the competence of consular officers issued by the Representative Mission of one country in another country.
- Republic of Iraq
Exemption from consular legalization/certification of documents under the authority of consular officers issued by the Representative Office of one country in another country.
- Republic of Italy
Exemption from legalization/consular certification of documents used for adoption issued by competent authorities of both countries.
- Lao People's Democratic Republic
Exemption from consular legalization/certification of civil, family, and criminal documents issued by competent State agencies of the two Parties.
Exemption from consular legalization/certification of documents under the authority of consular officers issued by the Representative Office of one country in another country.
Exemption from consular legalization of documents used for birth registration, settlement of marriages, recognition of fathers, mothers, and children with foreign elements, and death registration for foreigners residing permanently in the border area by competent State agencies of Laos in the border area.
- Mongolia
Exemption from legalization/consular certification of civil, family, and criminal documents issued by competent State agencies of both Parties.
Exemption from legalization/consular certification of documents under the authority of consular officers issued by the Representative Office of one country in another country.
- Russian Federation
Exemption from consular legalization/certification of documents prepared or certified by judicial agencies (including certified translations and extracts) issued by the Judicial Agencies of the two Parties (Judicial Agencies are Courts, Procuracies, and other competent agencies) on civil and criminal matters (Notary Offices, Law Firms) in accordance with the laws of the country where the agency is headquartered.
Exemption from consular legalization/certification of documents under the authority of consular officers issued by the Representative Office of one country in another country.
- Japan
Exemption from legalization/certification of civil status documents issued by competent State agencies of both Parties on the principle of reciprocity.
- Nicaragua
Exemption from consular legalization/certification of documents under the authority of consular officers issued by the Representative Office of one country in another country.
- Australia
Exemption from consular legalization/certification of documents under the authority of consular officers issued by the Representative Office of one country in another country.
- French Republic
Exemption from legalization/consular certification of judgments, decisions on recognition/enforcement of civil judgments, civil status papers, civil papers used for marriage, adoption, and recognition of fathers, mothers, and children issued by competent State agencies of both Parties.
Exemption from legalization/consular certification of documents used for adoption issued by competent agencies and transferred to central agencies.
Exemption from the legalization of documents under the authority of consular officers issued by representative agencies of one country in another country. These documents must be consular certified if requested by the other Party.
- Romania
Exemption from consular legalization/certification of documents under the authority of consular officers issued by the Representative Office of one country in another country.
- Czech Republic
Exemption from consular legalization/certification of civil documents (including family and labor matters) and criminal documents issued by competent State agencies of the two Parties.
Exemption from consular legalization/certification of documents under the authority of consular officers issued by the Representative Office of one country in another country.
- Kingdom of Spain
Exemption from consular legalization/certification of criminal documents and papers issued by competent State agencies of the two Parties, when transferred through central agencies.
- Swiss Confederation
Exemption from the legalization of documents used for adoption issued by competent authorities of both Parties.
- People's Republic of China
Exemption from legalization/consular certification of civil (commercial, family, and labor) and criminal documents prepared or certified by the Courts or competent state agencies of the two Parties, signed and officially stamped if these documents are used for the purpose of mutual legal assistance under the 1998 Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement.
Exemption from legalization/consular certification of documents under the authority of consular officers issued by the Representative Office of one country in another country.
Exemption from legalization of documents used for birth registration, settlement of marriages, recognition of fathers, mothers, children with foreign elements, and death certificates for foreigners residing permanently in border areas issued by the competent state agencies of China in the border areas.
For documents such as degrees, certificates, judicial records (confirming no criminal record) and other related documents certified by a notary office of China or other competent authorities (including Hong Kong, Macau), then authenticated by the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China (or authorized local Chinese foreign affairs agency), they must be legalized at the Vietnamese representative agency in China (Based on the content of the diplomatic note exchanged between the Consular Department and the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam).
- Ukraina
Exemption from consular legalization/certification of civil (commercial, family, labor) and criminal documents issued by competent State agencies of the two Parties.
Exemption from consular legalization/certification of documents under the authority of consular officers issued by the Representative Office of one country in another country.
- Slovak Republic
Exemption from consular legalization/certification of civil documents (including family and labor matters) and criminal documents issued by competent State agencies of the two Parties.
Exemption from consular legalization/certification of documents under the authority of consular officers issued by the Representative Office of one country in another country.
- Republic of Indonesia
Exemption from consular legalization/certification of documents and records used for the purpose of mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, except in special cases where the Requested Party requests that the records or documents be certified by the competent State agencies of the two Parties. Only applicable to documents and records transferred under the Agreement.
For more information on procedures related to consular legalization in Vietnam, please refer to our services “Legal Retainer Services”.
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