LEGALIZATION OF DOCUMENTS FOR
MARRIAGE WITH VIETNAMESE CITIZENS IN VIETNAM
I.
A U. S. resident, seeking to get married
in Vietnam, may submit in person or by mail documents for marriage registration
to the Consulate General for legalization
before bringing them to Vietnam for subsequent procedures.
A regular set of documents includes:
1.
Affidavit of Single Status: The signature of the applicant on the Affidavit
of Single Status should be notarized by a notary public, then the signature/competency
of the notary public should be authenticated by a relevant State- Level
Secretary of State.
2. Certificate of Non-marriage/Certificate
of No Record: certified that the applicant has not get married since he/she
reaches marriage age or since he/she got divorced. This document is usually
issued by a County Clerk or a relevant local authority. This document should be
authenticated by a relevant State- Level Secretary of State.
3. Application for Marriage Registration:
You should fill up the application and have it notarized. Leave the column of
the other applicant blank if you don’t know his/her information.
4. Biographic Information Sheet: You should
fill up the sheet and have it notarized.
5. Pre-marital Examination of Mental Health issued by an
authorized doctor or medical organization confirming that the applicant has no
mental illnesses, or has a mental problem but not to the extent of losing
consciousness of his/her own actions. This document should be notarized then authenticated
by a relevant State- Level Secretary of State.
6.
A notarized photocopy of the personal and signature pages of the applicant’s
passport/greencard.
7.
Divorce decree (if applicable): the decree should be certified by a Court Clerk
or a Judge, and then authenticated by a relevant State- Level Secretary of
State.
8. Death certificate of ex-spouse (if
applicable): the certificate should be certified by a County Clerk or a
relevant person, and then authenticated by a relevant State- Level Secretary of
State.
9. Power of attorney: The applicant can,
with a power of attorney, empower his/her fiance(e) to submit the application
package to competent authorities in Vietnam in advance. The power of attorney
should be notarized, then authenticated by a relevant State- Level Secretary of
State.
Fees: can be paid in cash if applied
in person. Otherwise, the fees must be
in the form of MONEY ORDER, or CASHIER’S CHECK, or CERTIFIED CHECK payable to
“The Consulate of Vietnam”.
Mail back: A
self-addressed postage-paid return envelope should be submitted if the
applicant requests the legalized documents to be returned by mail. The
Consulate recommends that applicant(s) use USPS Express Mail or FedEx with the
tracking numbers. USPS - United States
Postal Service (prepaid postage stamp envelope or return label) can be bought
online at www.usps.com
or prepaid return FedEx label can be bought online at www.fedex.com.
You are advised to keep the tracking number for your own reference.
*Note:
- The documents mentioned in items 1, 2, 3, 4,5, and 9,
should not be notarized or issued more than 6 months at the time of submitting
the application package to competent authorities in Vietnam.
- If a number of documents are notarized by the same
notary public, just one certificate of authentication from Secretary of State
is needed for the signature/competency of that notary public.
II. Processing
time takes up to 5-7 working days. In case of urgency, processing time takes up
to 1-3 working days (additional fees required).
* Upon receiving the
documents, applicants are advised to double check the accuracy of all the
information and inform the Consulate of any errors immediately. Otherwise, they
will solely bear responsibility for any hindrance afterwards.
For further information,
please contact the Consular Section