In the morning session on May 27, the National Assembly listened to General To Lam, Minister of Public Security, present the Report on the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Exit and Entry of Vietnamese Citizens and the Law on Entry, Exit, Transit and Residence of Foreigners in Vietnam.

Minister of Public Security To Lam said that after reviewing, it was found that some provisions of this law did not meet the Party's guidelines and policies, so it was necessary to study and amend them. The law's development aims to contribute to simplifying procedures, promoting the implementation of administrative procedures in the electronic environment, continuing to create favorable conditions for Vietnamese citizens in issuing entry and exit documents and foreigners entering, exiting, transiting, and residing in Vietnam; contributing to socio -economic development; both protecting national security and ensuring social order and safety.

At the same time, perfect the legal basis, ensure consistency, unity and improve the effectiveness of state management of entry, exit, transit and residence of foreigners in Vietnam, contributing to making tourism a spearhead economic sector, creating conditions for investors to explore the market and invest.

Minister of Public Security To Lam: The law amendment aims to perfect the legal basis, ensure consistency, unity and improve the effectiveness of state management of entry, exit, transit...

Minister of Public Security To Lam clarified some of the amended and supplemented contents in the draft law.

Accordingly, the bill amends 13 articles and clauses of the 2019 Law on Exit and Entry of Vietnamese Citizens; focusing on perfecting regulations on the implementation of administrative procedures in the field of immigration management in the electronic environment (adding the form of submitting documents in the electronic environment for procedures to request the issuance of ordinary passports, reporting the loss of ordinary passports in the electronic environment, and restoring the validity of ordinary passports).

The draft law abolishes the regulation on submitting a copy of the identity card or citizen identification card in cases where there is a change in personal information compared to the information in the most recently issued passport and abolishes the regulation on submitting a copy of the birth certificate or birth extract for people under 14 years old who have been issued a personal identification number.

The draft law also adds information about “place of birth” on immigration documents; amends regulations on cases, procedures, and formalities for issuing ordinary passports under the simplified procedure in the direction of expanding the subjects eligible for issuance of ordinary passports under the simplified procedure, and regulations on procedures for issuing passports under the simplified procedure in some especially urgent cases.

The draft law also adds provisions on the cancellation of the validity of ordinary passports for cases where passports have been issued but do not come to receive the results, and stipulates that a passport with remaining validity is eligible for exit (removing the provision that the remaining validity of the passport is 6 months or more to facilitate citizens when exiting the country).

In particular, the draft law also amends a number of provisions to further facilitate foreigners entering and exiting Vietnam. Accordingly, the draft law increases the duration of e-visas from 30 days to 3 months, valid for one or multiple entries; expands the issuance of e-visas to citizens of all countries and territories and assigns the Government to decide on a specific list of countries and territories on the basis of ensuring national defense, security, social order and safety, in accordance with Vietnam's foreign policy and socio-economic development.

In addition, the temporary residence period is increased from 15 days to 45 days for citizens of countries that Vietnam unilaterally exempts from visas and are considered for visa issuance and temporary residence extension according to other provisions of the law...

Session view.

Representing the agency reviewing this draft law, Chairman of the National Assembly's Defense and Security Committee Le Tan Toi also expressed his agreement with the need to amend and supplement the law.

"The amendment and supplementation of a number of provisions of current laws on entry and exit aims to promptly overcome shortcomings and limitations in the practical implementation of the Law on Exit and Entry of Vietnamese Citizens and the Law on Entry, Exit, Transit and Residence of Foreigners in Vietnam; continue to reform administrative procedures in the field of entry and exit to suit current practices; create favorable conditions, attract more foreigners to enter Vietnam, contributing to promoting socio-economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic," said Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on National Defense and Security Le Tan Toi.

NGUYEN THAO