Circular No. 11/2025/TT-BNG dated July 31, 2025 on forms of documents and detailed guidelines on certain regulations on consular authentication and consular legalization

CIRCULAR

FORMS OF DOCUMENTS AND DETAILED GUIDELINES ON CERTAIN REGULATIONS ON CONSULAR AUTHENTICATION AND CONSULAR LEGALIZATION

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 111/2011/ND-CP dated December 05, 2011 on consular authentication and consular legalization;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 196/2025/ND-CP dated July 04, 2025 on amendments to some Articles of the Government’s Decree No. 111/2011/ND-CP dated December 05, 2011 on consular authentication and consular legalization;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 28/2025/ND-CP dated February 24, 2025 defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs;

At the request of the Director General of the Consular Department;

The Minister of Foreign Affairs hereby promulgates a Circular on forms of documents and detailed guidelines on certain regulations on consular authentication and consular legalization.

Article 1. Scope

This Circular elaborates point g clause 2 Article 18 of the Government’s Decree No. 111/2011/ND-CP dated December 05, 2011 on consular authentication and consular legalization amended by the Government’s Decree No. 196/2025/ND-CP dated July 04, 2025 (hereinafter referred to as “the Decree”) and provides detailed guidelines on some measures to organize the implementation of point b clause 2 Article 18 of the Decree.

Article 2. Agencies delegated to exercise the authority to conduct consular authentication and consular legalization within the country

The Consular Department, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Foreign Affairs and agencies to which authority is delegated as per law are delegated to exercise the authority to conduct consular authentication and consular legalization within the country.

Article 3. Documents eligible for consular authentication

Documents issued, notarized, authenticated, or certified by agencies and organizations of the Party, the State and other organizations delegated or authorized to render public services comprise:

1. Administrative decisions and documents issued by state administrative agencies, agencies or organizations assigned to perform state administrative management or issued by competent persons in such agencies or organizations.

2. Civil status and nationality documents issued by competent agencies in accordance with the law on civil status and nationality.

3. Police records, judgment enforcement decisions, judgments and decisions of People’s Courts, process server’s witness statement forms and other procedural documents.

4. Documents notarized or authenticated in accordance with the law on notarization and authentication.

5. Diplomas, certificates and documents certifying the learning and research process and results issued by educational institutions of the national education system in accordance with law.

6. Health examination certificates, medical certificates, medical examination conclusions and other medical documents issued by medical establishments or competent health agencies of Vietnam as per law.

7. Commercial documents issued and certified by competent state agencies or organizations of Vietnam as per law.

8. Other documents, if formulated, issued or certified by agencies and organizations of the Party, the State and other organizations delegated or authorized to render public services.

Article 4. Documents bearing unidentifiable seals, signatures and titles

Documents specified in point a clause 2 Article 12 of the Decree include:

1. Documents bearing seals, signatures and titles that have not yet been officially introduced.

2. Documents bearing seals, signatures and titles that cannot be identified by comparison with specimens of seals, signatures and titles officially introduced or by verification results.

Article 5. Sending applications for consular authentication and consular legalization via postal services

The sending of applications by post to the Consular Department or the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Foreign Affairs as specified in clause 2 Article 6 of the Decree shall be carried out at all post offices within the Vietnam post system under a service agreement between the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the postal service provider.

Article 6. Introduction of seal specimens, signature specimens and titles

1. The introduction of seal specimens, signature specimens, titles and duration of authorization (if any) of agencies and organizations issuing, notarizing, authenticating and certifying documents as prescribed in clause 4 Article 11 of the Decree shall be carried out as follows:

a) Agencies and organizations shall introduce their seal specimens, signature specimens, titles and the term of office of related signatories; and at the same time, designate a conduit responsible for receiving and handling verification requests.

b) Agencies and organizations shall annually review their seal specimens, signature specimens and titles of agencies, organizations and individuals and notify the review results before February 01 of the following year.

c) The Consular Department and the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Foreign Affairs shall receive the introduced seal specimens, signature specimens and titles of central agencies and organizations, local agencies and organizations and foreign representative missions in Vietnam.

Local foreign affairs agencies shall receive the introduced seal specimens, signature specimens and titles sent to the foreign affairs agencies of local agencies and organizations and central agencies and organizations located within their jurisdiction; forward the original of the written introduction to the Consular Department and the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Foreign Affairs within 05 working days from the date of receiving the introduction and archive a photocopy of such document.

2. The Consular Department and the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Foreign Affairs shall introduce their seal specimens, signature specimens and titles to foreign representative missions in Vietnam and overseas Vietnamese representative missions. Agencies delegated to exercise the authority to conduct consular authentication and legalization shall introduce their seal specimens, signature specimens and titles to the Consular Department for notification and introduction to foreign representative missions in Vietnam and overseas Vietnamese representative missions.

3. Overseas Vietnamese representative missions shall introduce their seal specimens, signature specimens and titles of representative missions to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or other competent foreign agencies and also notify them to the Consular Department.

4. If there is any change of seal specimens, signature specimens and the title specified in clause 1, clause 2 and clause 3 of this Article, the relevant agency shall introduce the specimens of the new seal, signature and the new title within 20 days from the date of change.

Article 7. Archiving of seal specimens, signature specimens and titles officially introduced

Agencies delegated to exercise the authority to conduct consular authentication and legalization, and local foreign affairs agencies shall permanently preserve and archive, in a scientific and systematic manner, specimens of seals, signatures and titles officially introduced.

Article 8. Documents not required to be enclosed with translations into Vietnamese or English

1. Documents not required to be enclosed with translations into Vietnamese or English as prescribed in point dd clause 1 Article 15 and point b clause 1 Article 15a of the Decree are documents made in Russian, French, Spanish, Chinese or German requesting consular legalization at the corresponding representative missions in Russia, France, Spain, China, Germany. This regulation also applies to documents made in other languages, requesting legalization at other representative missions, if such representative missions have application receiving cadres being proficient in the respective language.

2. Translations of documents specified in point dd clause 1 Articles 14 and15, and point b clause 1 Article 15a of the Decree are not required to be authenticated; the applicant shall be responsible for the accuracy of such translations according to the form LS/HPH-2025/CK specified in the Appendix to this Circular.

Article 9. Consular authentication and consular legalization of documents bearing only seals or only signatures and titles

1. Agencies delegated to exercise the authority to conduct consular authentication or legalization shall authenticate only seals, or only signatures and titles on documents requesting consular authentication or legalization in the following cases:

a) Documents bearing only seals or only signatures and titles.

b) Documents bearing only the original seal or only the original signature.

2. The Consular Department or the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Foreign Affairs shall issue a certificate confirming that documents have already been seen at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with respect to the documents specified in clause 2 Article 12 of the Decree.

Article 10. Forms used in consular authentication and consular legalization

1. Promulgated together with this Circular is the Appendix containing the following forms:

a) Application for consular authentication (form LS/HPH-2025/TK) and interactive electronic form (form LS/HPH-2025/TKDT);

b) Certificate of consular authentication and consular legalization (form LS/HPH-2025/CN);

c) Certificate of electronic consular authentication and consular legalization (form LS/HPH-2025/CNDT).

d) Certificate confirming the documents seen (form LS/HPH-2025/XT);

dd) Translator’s commitment (form LS/HPH-2025/CK);

e) Document introducing the seal specimens, signature specimens and titles (form LS/HPH-2025/GT);

g) Logbook of consular authentication and legalization (form LS/HPH-2025/SDK).

2. The certificates prescribed in points b, c, d clause 1 of this Article are specialized documents in service of consular legalization and consular authentication. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall print and issue forms of consular authentication certificates and consular legalization certificates and forms of certificates confirming documents seen for use in the territory of Vietnam. Representative missions may directly use the certificate forms promulgated together with this Circular or place orders to print certificates in foreign countries for use according to the prescribed forms.

3. Forms of application for consular authentication or legalization, documents introducing the seal specimens, signature specimens and titles, and logbook of consular authentication and consular legalization shall be published on the web portal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at https://mofa.gov.vn so as for agencies, organizations and individuals to download and use them.

Article 11. Transitional clauses

1. Any application which is received before the effective date of this Circular but yet to be processed shall continue to be processed in accordance with the Circular No. 01/2012/TT-BNG dated March 20, 2012 of the Minister of Foreign Affairs providing guidelines for implementation of several regulations of the Government’s Decree No. 111/2011/ND-CP dated December 05, 2011 on consular authentication and consular legalization.

2. Form of logbook of consular authentication and legalization promulgated together with the Circular No. 01/2012/TT-BNG dated March 20, 2012 of the Minister of Foreign Affairs providing guidelines for implementation of several regulations of the Government’s Decree No. 111/2011/ND-CP dated December 05, 2011 on consular authentication and consular legalization shall continue to be used until December 31, 2025 inclusive.

3. The issuance of certificates in the forms prescribed in points b, c, d clause 1 Article 10 and the implementation of interactive electronic forms shall commence from January 01, 2026.

Article 12. Effect

1. This Circular comes into force from August 03, 2025 and supersedes the Circular No. 01/2012/TT-BNG dated March 20, 2012 of the Minister of Foreign Affairs providing guidelines for implementation of several regulations of the Government’s Decree No. 111/2011/ND-CP dated December 05, 2011 on consular authentication and consular legalization.

2. Difficulties that arise during the implementation should be promptly reported to relevant agencies, organizations and individuals to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for guidance./.