Circular 03/2026/TT-BNG decentralisation of competence to provincial-level People’s Committees for consular certification and legalisation

CIRCULAR

On the decentralisation of competence to provincial-level People’s Committees for consular certification and legalisation

Pursuant to Law No. 63/2025/QH15 on Organisation of the Government;

Pursuant to Law No. 72/2025/QH15 on Organisation of Local Administration;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 111/2021/ND-CP on consular certification and legalisation, which was amended and supplemented under Decree No. 196/2025/ND-CP;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 28/2025/ND-CP defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was amended and supplemented under Decree No. 109/2025/ND-CP;

At the proposal of the Director General of the Consular Department;

The Minister of Foreign Affairs promulgates the Circular on the decentralisation of competence to provincial-level People’s Committees for consular certification and legalisation.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

 

Article 1. Scope of regulation and subjects of application

1. This Circular provides for the scope and content of the decentralisation of competence for handling administrative procedures related to consular certification and legalisation, and responsibilities of related agencies in organising the implementation thereof.

2. This Circular applies to the Consular Department, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Foreign Affairs, decentralised provincial-level People’s Committees (below referred to as provincial-level People’s Committees), and related agencies, organisations and individuals.

Article 2. Principles of decentralisation

1. To ensure the unified state management of consular certification and legalisation; to comply with the Constitution and the law on organisation of the state apparatus.

2. To ensure that the decentralisation aligns with local capacities, complies with implementation conditions and the requirements to improve the efficiency of handling administrative procedures.

3. To ensure that the decentralisation is coupled with responsibilities of the decentralised agencies; to strengthen accountability while establishing mechanisms for inspection, supervision and assurance of the compliance with the law on decentralisation and authorisation during the organisation of implementation.

Chapter II

DECENTRALISATION OF COMPETENCE FOR CONSULAR CERTIFICATION AND LEGALISATION

 

Article 3. Decentralisation of competence for receiving dossiers and returning the results thereof

1. The competence to receive dossiers and return the results of consular certification and legalisation shall be decentralised to provincial-level People's Committees of Ha Tinh province, Lao Cai province, Hue city, Lang Son province, Thanh Hoa province, Phu Tho province, Quang Tri province, Quang Ninh province and Dong Nai province.

2. The decentralised provincial-level People's Committee specified in Clause 1 of this Article shall authorise the head of its specialised agency to perform the decentralised tasks in accordance with the law on organisation of local administration; the authorisation may not change the competence of the decentralised agency and is not considered the re-decentralisation of competence.

3. Implementation content:

a/ Guiding organisations and individuals in preparing dossiers specified in Clause 1, Article 11 or Clause 1, Article 14 of the Government’s Decree No. 111/2011/ND-CP on consular certification and legalisation, which was amended and supplemented under Decree No. 196/2025/ND-CP; conducting preliminary inspection of the completeness and validity of dossiers; and receiving dossiers and collecting relevant charges in accordance with law.

b/ Within 1 working day after receiving a valid dossier, the dossier-receiving agency shall forward the dossier by post to the Consular Department or the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Foreign Affairs for handling; the time limit specified in this Point and the time for sending a dossier and returning the result thereof by post shall not be included in the time for handling the consular certification and legalisation procedures.

c/ Receiving the results from the Consular Department or the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Foreign Affairs and forward them to the requesters as prescribed; and providing guidance and explanations to the requesters in case their dossiers are rejected.

Article 4. Full decentralisation of the competence to handle administrative procedures

1. The competence to carry out the entire process of handling consular certification and legalisation procedures shall be decentralised to provincial-level People's Committees of Hai Phong, Da Nang, and Can Tho cities.

2. The decentralised People's Committee specified in Clause 1 of this Article may authorise the head of its specialised agency to perform the decentralised tasks in accordance with the law on organisation of local administration; the authorisation may not change the competence of the decentralised agency and is not considered the re-decentralisation of competence.

3. The procedures specified in this Article must comply with Article 11, Article 14, or Article 15a of the Government’s Decree No. 111/2011/ND-CP on consular certification and legalisation, amended and supplemented under Decree No. 196/2025/ND-CP.

Chapter III

ORGANISATION OF IMPLEMENTATION

 

Article 5. Time of official implementation of the decentralised competence

1. The competence to receive dossiers and return the results thereof of the heads of specialised agencies under the provincial-level People's Committees specified in Clause 2, Article 3 of this Circular shall be implemented from the time of issuance of written authorisations by the provincial-level People's Committees. The heads of the authorised specialised agencies shall ensure the continuity of public services, refraining from interrupting the handling of procedures for citizens and organisations.

2. The competence to handle the entire process of the procedures shall be as follows:

a/ The specialised agency under the provincial-level People's Committee specified in Clause 2, Article 4 of this Circular shall send a document introducing the sample seal of the agency, and the sample signature and the title of the person competent to sign the consular certification or legalisation to the Consular Department for timely updating, notification and introduction to Vietnam-based foreign representative offices and overseas Vietnamese representative missions.

b/ The time for officially implementing the decentralised competence is 20 days after the Consular Department receives a notice introducing the sample seal of the competent agency, and the sample signature and title of the competent person specified in Point a of this Clause.

3. From the time of starting to implement the decentralised competence specified in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article, provincial-level People's Committees shall publicise such on their portals and post at the dossier-receiving places information on the implementation of consular certification and consular legalisation procedures within the scope of the decentralised competence. The Consular Department shall post information on the list of localities to which the competence is decentralised, the scope of the decentralisation, and the time of starting the implementation of the corresponding competence on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ portal.

Article 6. Adjustment, narrowing, termination or expansion of the application of decentralisation of competence

1. Based on the assessment of the organisation of implementation in localities and state management requirements, the decentralisation of competence to provincial-level People’s Committees to perform consular certification and legalisation shall be considered for adjustment, narrowing, termination or expansion of application.

2. The adjustment, narrowing or termination of the application of decentralisation shall be considered based on one or more than one of the following factors:

a/ The level of compliance with provisions and professional processes on consular certification and legalisation;

b/ The quality and efficiency of dossier processing, including the assurance of time limits, accuracy and completeness during the processing;

c/ Examination and supervision results of competent agencies;

d/ Dossier processing-related violations, especially those that may affect the authenticity of papers and documents or reduce the reliability and level of acceptance of papers issued by Vietnam’s agencies by foreign competent agencies;

dd/ The capacity to ensure implementation conditions, including personnel, physical foundations, technical infrastructure and requirements on information confidentiality and data security.

3. The consideration of the expansion of the scope of decentralisation shall be applied to provincial-level People’s Committees that meet the requirements on organisation and implementation capacity, including personnel, physical foundations, technical infrastructure, professional processes and other prescribed conditions.

4. The adjustment, narrowing, termination or expansion of the application of decentralisation of competence shall be carried out via legal documents promulgated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs in accordance with the law.

5. The Consular Department shall, based on examination and supervision results of competent agencies, report and propose the Minister of Foreign Affairs to consider the adjustment, narrowing, termination or expansion of the application of decentralisation for provincial-level People’s Committees.

6. Responsibilities of a provincial-level People’s Committee when a written termination of the application of decentralisation takes effect:

a/ In case of termination of the application of decentralisation of competence to receive dossiers and return results thereof: The provincial-level People’s Committee shall publicise on its portal a notice of suspension of receiving dossiers of request for consular certification or legalisation from the effective date of the written termination of the application of decentralisation; and concurrently guide organisations and individuals to perform procedures at other competent agencies under regulations;

b/ In case of termination of the application of decentralisation of competence to handle the entire procedures: The specialised agency under the provincial-level People’s Committee shall hand over all unused certification stamp forms to the Consular Department and concurrently switch to performing the tasks specified in Article 3 of this Circular if it still satisfies the prescribed conditions.

Article 7. Responsibilities of the Consular Department

1. To receive dossiers forwarded from specialised agencies under the decentralised provincial-level People’s Committees as specified in Article 3 of this Circular; to process dossiers and return the results thereof within the prescribed time limits.

2. To provide professional training, retraining and guidance on consular certification and legalisation for cadres, civil servants and public employees of specialised agencies under provincial-level People’s Committees.

3. To upgrade, update, manage, operate and share the shared consular certification and legalisation data on its internal software system to serve lookup and collation by specialised agencies under provincial-level People’s Committees according to their competence.

4. To conduct periodic examinations once every six months or extraordinary examinations at specialised agencies under provincial-level People’s Committees.

5. To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with specialised agencies under provincial-level People’s Committees in, verifying the authenticity of consular certification and legalisation stamps at the request of domestic and foreign competent agencies.

Article 8. Responsibilities of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Foreign Affairs

1. To receive dossiers forwarded from specialised agencies under the decentralised provincial-level People’s Committees as specified in Article 3 of this Circular within its assigned geographical areas; to process dossiers and return the results thereof within the prescribed time limits.

2. To coordinate with the Consular Department in providing direct professional support to provincial-level People’s Committees in provinces and centrally-run cities from Da Nang city southward as assigned by the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

3. To coordinate with the Consular Department in updating and sharing data on sample seals and signatures and information about competent persons’ titles on the shared software system to serve lookup and collation by specialised agencies under provincial-level People’s Committees within their competence in the assigned areas.

4. To verify or coordinate with the Consular Department in verifying the authenticity of consular certification and legalisation stamps at the request of domestic and foreign competent agencies within the scope of their assignment.

Article 9. Responsibilities of provincial-level People’s Committees

1. To issue written authorisations to heads of specialised agencies under provincial-level People’s Committees to organise the implementation of the decentralised tasks in accordance with the law.

2. To direct and examine the performance of the authorised tasks; to bear responsibility before the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the law for the performance of the decentralised tasks in localities, including cases in which authorisation has been granted to specialised agencies under provincial-level People’s Committees.

3. To ensure the allocation of sufficient personnel, funding and physical foundations for authorised specialised agencies to completely perform the decentralised tasks under regulations.

4. To direct specialised agencies under provincial-level People’s Committees to assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with competent agencies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in, verifying the authenticity of consular certification and legalisation stamps at the request of domestic and foreign competent agencies.

Chapter IV

IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

 

Article 10. Effect and transitional provisions

1. This Circular takes effect on May 9, 2026.

2. Dossiers of request for consular certification or legalisation received before local competent agencies commence their tasks as specified in Clause 1 or 2, Article 5 of this Circular shall continue to be processed under regulations at the time of receipt, ensuring no disruption to the handling of procedures for organisations and individuals.

3. From the time the local competent agency commences its tasks as specified in Clause 1 or 2, Article 5 of this Circular, the receipt and processing of consular certification or legalisation dossiers in localities must comply with this Circular corresponding to the scope of the decentralised competence.

4. Related agencies shall coordinate in the handover, receipt and processing of dossiers during the transitional period, ensuring uninterruptedness and consistency and preventing any bottlenecks in the course of settling administrative procedures.

5. Documents issued by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and authorised to localities to receive dossiers under the Government’s Decree No. 111/2011/ND-CP on consular certification and legalisation cease to be effective from the date provincial-level People’s Committees specified in Clause 1, Article 3 of this Circular issue written authorisations to heads of specialised agencies under provincial-level People’s Committees.

Article 11. Implementation responsibility

1. The Director General of the Consular Department, chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees and related agencies shall implement this Circular.

2. Any difficulties arising in the course of implementation should be reported to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (via the Consular Department) for study and settlement.-

On behalf of the Minister of Foreign Affairs

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs

Le Thi Thu Hang