Germany accepts Vietnamese redesigned passport

Germany has recognized the validity of the newly introduced Vietnamese passport after the Vietnamese authorities agreed to add information about the holder's place of birth, according to the German Embassy in Hanoi.

Accordingly, Germany will begin issuing visas for Vietnamese holders of the new passport as long as it is added information about the place of birth on the observations page.

In its announcement, the German Federal Foreign Office said it appreciated Vietnam's timely solution to this issue.

The embassy said the move would facilitate Vietnamese citizens in Germany in processing residence permit applications and conducting other administrative formalities.

The newly introduced passport of Vietnam. Photo: Xuan Ha

Earlier, the German Embassy in Vietnam on July 27 informed that Vietnam’s new passports, whose issuance began on July 1, are temporarily not recognized in Germany due to technical factors. Therefore, their holders will not be issued visas.

The Vietnamese Embassy in Germany announced on July 29 that it is ready to issue a confirmation in German on the place of birth for holders of new-style Vietnamese passports, should they need to present it to German authorities.

After Germany, the Czech Republic, Spain and Finland have temporarily refused to grant the Schengen visa to the holders of the new-style Vietnamese passport due to the lack of information about the holder's place of birth.

Spain said it would issue a visa to holders of redesigned passports, but asked applicants to bring their identification cards with them to verify their place of birth.

The Vietnamese Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Public Security had recently worked with representatives of the German, Czech Republic and Spanish Embassies in Hanoi, and all agreed that in the near future the information on the place of birth would be included on the page of the bearer's biography.

The Ministry of Public Security said that place of birth data would be added to the new passport to make it convenient for citizens.

Meanwhile, the UK and France have announced they still recognized the newly-introduced Vietnamese passport.

Vietnam's new passport, whose cover is blue-violet, consists of pages printed with the country’s famous landscapes and cultural heritage sites, ensuring technical safety and preventing counterfeiting. The old passports, which include the holders' place of birth, are still valid until expiration.