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Can Citizen Identity Cards replace passports?

Photo: Thanh Nien

When Vietnam first introduced the concept of Citizen Identity Cards that integrated all basic personal information of Vietnamese citizens including passports, many people wondered whether this card (with chips and without chips) can replace passports entirely for entry/exit purposes.

First, we need to look at their definitions.

What is Citizen Identity Card?

According to Clause 1, Article 3 Law on Citizen Identification:

“Citizen identification means basic information about the origin and identity of a citizen in accordance with this Law”

Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 18 of the Law on Citizen Identification 2014, a citizen identity card has the following information:

On the front side of a card, there are the national emblem of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; the words “Cong hoa xa hoi chu nghia Viet Nam, Doc lap - Tu do - Hanh phuc” (The Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Independence - Freedom - Happiness); the words “Can cuoc cong dan” (Citizen identification); photo, citizen identity card number, family name, middle name and first name, birthdate, gender, nationality, native place, place of permanent residence; and expiry date.
On the back side of a card, there is an encoded place for information storage; fingerprints, characteristics for identification of the card holder; date of card issuance; family name, middle name, first name, title and signature of the card issuer, and a seal bearing the national emblem of the card-issuing agency.

What is Passport?

Passport is a government-owned document that the Ministry of Public Security issued to Vietnamese residents for entry and exit, for the purpose of nationality and identity verification.

To put it simply, if you want to leave the country, one of the important and required documents is the Passport - it is extremely important for immigration purposes in Vietnam and other countries. In the world, Passport also replaces Identity Cards to perform some transactions in some specific cases.

So, can Citizen Identity Cards replace passports?

Also stately clearly at Article 20 Law on Citizen Identification,

Article 20. Use validity of citizen’s identity cards

“1. Citizen identity card is a personal paper of a Vietnamese citizen which proves citizen identification of the card holder for conducting transactions in the Vietnamese territory.

2. Citizen identity cards shall be used instead of passports in case Vietnam and a foreign country have signed a treaty or international agreement permitting citizens of the signatories to use citizen identity cards instead of passports in each other’s territory.”

Citizen identification cards can only be used instead of passports in cases where Vietnam and a foreign country sign treaties or international agreements that allow citizens of the signing countries to use them. Thus, the Citizen Identification Card is not a substitute for a passport when traveling to all countries around the world.

However, in the Discussion on the draft Vietnamese Citizen Identification Law on June 22, 2023, Delegate Nguyen Thi Thuy, Deputy Chairwoman of the National Assembly's Judicial Committee expressed some problems may arise in store upon replacing passports by Citizen identification cards.

Delegate Nguyen Thi Thuy, Deputy Chairwoman of the National Assembly's Judicial Committee (Photo by Gia Han)

“ICAO guidance is valid for all countries and carriers. But Articles 16 and 19 of the draft regulations on identification data and identification cards have absolutely no information about passports, so they cannot be used as a substitute for a passport. It is necessary to research accordingly in case you want to use an ID card instead of a passport," said Delegate Thuy.

Vietnamese people are advised to bring along passports when entering or exiting any countries and territories, even though they are in the list of countries accepting Citizen Identification cards.