How to Get Married in Vietnam: Documents, Filing, and Fees

To get married in Vietnam as a foreigner, you and your partner must meet the eligibility rules in Vietnam’s 2014 Law on Marriage and Family, prepare an authenticated dossier of personal documents, file it at the District People’s Committee where the Vietnamese spouse resides, and appear together for a short civil registration ceremony that makes the marriage legally binding.¹ The process itself is straightforward once your paperwork is in order; getting the paperwork in order is where the weeks disappear.

Who Can Marry

Men must be at least 20 and women at least 18. Both people must have full civil capacity, meaning they can make their own decisions, and the marriage must be genuinely voluntary. A marriage entered through force, deception, or coercion is void.¹

Vietnam enforces strict monogamy, so neither person can already be married. The law also prohibits marriages between people in a direct bloodline, relatives within three generations, adoptive parents and adopted children (including former ones), in-laws such as a father-in-law and daughter-in-law, and stepparents and stepchildren.¹

One boundary to know before planning anything: Vietnam does not recognize marriages between people of the same sex.¹ Private ceremonies are no longer penalized, but a same-sex couple cannot register the union and will not receive legal protections for inheritance, shared property, or parental rights.

What Documents You Need

The foreign party generally has to produce four core items, and the Vietnamese party adds local identification. Expect the District People’s Committee to want:

The marriage application form, picked up from the Justice Division at the District People’s Committee. You sign it in front of a civil status official at the office, not before you arrive.²
A certified copy of your valid passport. Vietnam expects at least six months of remaining validity beyond your stay.³
An Affidavit of Single Status confirming you are free to marry. U.S. citizens can obtain one from their home state’s civil registry or complete one at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate in Vietnam. It must be signed within six months of your marriage application date.⁴
A mental health certificate issued by a Vietnamese or foreign health organization within six months of the application, confirming you do not have a condition that prevents independent decision-making.²

Your Vietnamese partner brings their national ID card and household registration book. Some localities also ask for photos or proof of residence, so call ahead to the specific district office before you finalize your file.

Authenticating Your Foreign Documents

Any document issued outside Vietnam has to be authenticated before the government will accept it. Until September 11, 2026, the process is consular legalization, which runs in a chain: notarization by a public notary, authentication by the Secretary of State in the relevant U.S. jurisdiction, and finally legalization at a Vietnamese embassy or consulate.⁵ The Vietnamese consulate in New York accepts documents authenticated by a Secretary of State from any U.S. state.⁶

After authentication, every foreign-language document must be translated into Vietnamese by a certified translator and notarized at a Vietnamese public notary office. This chain is where most applications stall. A missing signature or an out-of-order step sends you back to fix it before the district office will even open a file.

What Changes in September 2026

Vietnam deposited its accession to the Hague Apostille Convention on December 31, 2025, and the convention enters into force for Vietnam on September 11, 2026.⁷ For documents coming from member countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and most of Europe, a single apostille stamp from the issuing country’s designated authority should replace the full consular chain. If your registration falls after that date, confirm the current procedure with the district office you plan to file at, because implementation may lag in some localities.

Where and How to File

You file the complete dossier in person at the Justice Division of the District People’s Committee. For a marriage involving a foreign national, jurisdiction sits with the district where the Vietnamese citizen permanently resides. If neither party is Vietnamese, jurisdiction follows the foreign citizen’s place of residence.

An official reviews the dossier on the spot for completeness and issues a receipt with the expected processing date. If something is missing or wrongly authenticated, the office rejects the filing then and there rather than starting the clock.

If the Foreign Party Cannot Be There to File

You do not have to be present in Vietnam for the initial submission. Vietnamese law lets the foreign applicant authorize the Vietnamese fiancé or fiancée to submit the package through a power of attorney.⁸ The power of attorney itself runs through the same authentication chain: notarized, certified by the Secretary of State, and legalized at the Vietnamese embassy. Both people still have to appear in person for the registration ceremony itself.

Fees

Fees are set locally. In Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City the marriage registration fee runs around 1,000,000 VND (about $40 USD), paid in cash when you collect the marriage certificate.² Budget separately for translation, notarization, and authentication, which add up quickly. State-level authentication in the U.S. usually runs $10 to $20 per document, and Vietnamese consular legalization carries its own fees on top.

Review, Interview, and the Ceremony

Once the Justice Division accepts a complete dossier, the standard processing period is 15 working days. If police verification is needed, that adds up to 10 more working days, for a maximum of 25.⁴ Police checks come up more often in marriages involving a foreign national but are not automatic.

During the review, the Justice Division may schedule an interview with both applicants to confirm the marriage is voluntary and that the two of you can communicate in a shared language.² Practice varies. Some districts treat interviews as routine, others skip them. Where interviews happen, each person is typically questioned separately.

On the scheduled date, both of you appear at the District People’s Committee office. The civil status officer confirms consent once more, records the marriage in the Civil Status Registry, and has the couple sign the marriage certificate. The Chairman of the District People’s Committee (or an authorized representative) signs the certificate and hands it to you.⁴ That issuance is the moment you are legally married under Vietnamese law.

Property, and Whether You Need a Prenup

By default, property either spouse earns or acquires during the marriage is community property, owned jointly.¹ Property owned before the marriage, inherited individually, or received as a personal gift generally stays separate. If there is a dispute, Vietnamese courts presume community property unless proven otherwise.

You can override the default with a written property agreement, signed before the marriage, put in writing, and notarized or certified.¹ The agreement should specify which assets are community versus separate, how property will be divided if the marriage ends, and what portion is reserved for essential family needs. Courts can void an agreement that violates the Civil Code or the spousal obligation provisions of the Marriage and Family Law. Foreign spouses should pay attention here, because Vietnam restricts foreign ownership of land and certain other property.

Using the Certificate Outside Vietnam

A marriage validly registered in Vietnam is generally recognized in the United States without any separate U.S. filing. Your Vietnamese marriage certificate is your proof of the marriage for most legal purposes, though you will usually need a certified English translation for Social Security updates, immigration filings, or joint tax returns. USCIS requires foreign-language documents to include a certified English translation with a signed statement from the translator confirming accuracy and competence. You cannot translate your own document, even if you are fluent in both languages.

To use the certificate in another Apostille Convention country, you will need it apostilled by Vietnamese authorities. Once Vietnam’s accession takes effect on September 11, 2026, that should be straightforward for use in other member countries.⁷ Before that date, plan on consular legalization through the destination country’s embassy in Vietnam.

1
Vietnam Legal Database (vbpl.vn). Law 52/2014/QH13 – Law on Marriage and Family
2
U.S. Embassy & Consulate in Vietnam. Marriage Requirements and Registration Process
3
U.S. Department of State. Vietnam International Travel Information
4
U.S. Embassy & Consulate in Vietnam. Marriage in Vietnam
5
Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the United States. Legalization
6
Consulate of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. Legalization and Authentication of Documents for Use in Viet Nam
7
HCCH. Viet Nam Accedes to the 1961 Apostille Convention
8
Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the United States. Legalization of Documents for Marriage Registration