Circular No. 25/2021/TT-BTC on fees and charges in immigration transit and residence in Vietnam

CIRCULAR

Prescribing the rates of charges and fees related to exit from, entry into, transit through and residence in Vietnam and charge and fee collection, remittance, management
and use^[1]

Pursuant to the November 25, 2015 Law on Charges and Fees;

Pursuant to the June 25, 2015 Law on the State Budget;

Pursuant to the June 13, 2019 Law on Tax Administration;

Pursuant to the June 16, 2014 Law on Foreigners’ Entry into, Exit from, Transit through and Residence in Vietnam, and the November 25, 2019 Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Foreigners’ Entry into, Exit from, Transit through and Residence in Vietnam;

Pursuant to the November 22, 2019 Law on Exit and Entry of Vietnamese Citizens;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP of August 23, 2016, detailing and guiding a number of articles of the Law on Charges and Fees;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 117/2017/ND-CP of October 19, 2017, on management and use of state budget funds for a number of external activities;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 126/2020/ND-CP of October 19, 2020, detailing a number of articles of the Law on Tax Administration;

 Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 87/2017/ND-CP of July 26, 2017, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Finance;

At the proposal of the Director of the Department of Tax Policy,

The Minister of Finance promulgates the Circular prescribing the rates of charges and fees related to exit from, entry into, transit through and residence in Vietnam and charge and fee collection, remittance, management and use.

Article 1. Scope of regulation and subjects of application

1. This Circular prescribes the rates of charges and fees related to exit from, entry into, transit through and residence in Vietnam and charge and fee collection, remittance, management and use.

2. This Circular applies to payers of, organizations collecting, and other organizations and individuals involved in the collection, remittance, management and use of, charges and fees related to exit from, entry into, transit through and residence in Vietnam.

Article 2. Charge and fee payers

1. Vietnamese citizens, when carrying out procedures to request competent agencies in Vietnam to issue papers related to passports, laissez-passers, and AB stamps, shall pay fees according to this Circular.

2. Foreigners, when carrying out procedures to request competent agencies in Vietnam to issue visas or other papers which are valid for entry, exit, and residence of foreigners, shall pay charges according to this Circular.

Article 3. Charge- and fee-collecting organizations

The Immigration Department (the Ministry of Public Security); provincial-level Departments of Public Security and Border Guard Commands; the Consular Department and the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Affairs (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs); public security offices of rural districts, urban districts, towns and cities of provinces and centrally run cities; and public security offices of communes, wards and townships (competent to issue immigration papers) are charge- and fee-collecting organizations under this Circular.

Article 4. Charge and fee rates

1. The rates of charges and fees related to exit from, entry into, transit through and residence in Vietnam are provided in the Tariff of charges and fees promulgated together with this Circular.

2. Charges for issuance of visas and other papers valid for entry, exit, and residence of foreigners shall be collected in Vietnam dong (VND) or US dollar (USD). Charges which are provided in USD shall be collected in USD or in VND on the basis of converting USD into VND at the telegraph transfer buying rate applied at the head office of the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam at the time of charge payment or at the end of the working day preceding a holiday or weekend.

Article 5. Persons entitled to charge and fee exemption

1. Persons entitled to charge and fee exemption

a/ Guests (including also their spouses and children) of the Party, State, Government and National Assembly or those invited by leaders of the Party, State, Government and National Assembly in personal capacity.

b/ Officials and staff members of foreign diplomatic missions and consulates and Vietnam-based representative offices of international organizations and their family members (spouses and under-18 children) who are not Vietnamese nationals and do not permanently reside in Vietnam, regardless of the type of their passports, are entitled to exemption from charges on the basis of reciprocity.

c/ Persons entitled to charge exemption under treaties which Vietnam has concluded or acceded to or on the principle of reciprocity.

d/ Foreigners who enter Vietnam to provide relief or humanitarian aid to Vietnamese organizations and individuals.

dd/ To exempt charges for issuance of visas and temporary residence cards for foreigners in Vietnam who violate Vietnam’s law and face penalties but cannot afford charge payment while the representative missions of their home countries refuse to bear the charges or there are no representative missions of their home countries in Vietnam.   

Charge-collecting organizations shall decide whether violating foreigners in Vietnam are entitled to charge exemption on a case-by-case basis, and take responsibility for their decisions in accordance with law.

2. To exempt fees for passport issuance for: overseas Vietnamese who are to be deported under decisions issued by competent authorities of the host countries but do not have passports; overseas Vietnamese who must repatriate under treaties or international agreements on readmission of citizens but do not have passports; and persons in other cases for humanitarian reasons.   

3. Charge- and fee-collecting organizations shall affix the “GRATIS” stamp on papers issued to those entitled to charge or fee exemption specified in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article.

Article 6. Charge and fee declaration and remittance; fee refund

1. On Thursday every week at the latest, charge- and fee-collecting organizations shall deposit the charge and fee amounts collected in the previous week into their State Treasury accounts of charge and fee revenues awaiting remittance into the state budget.

2. Charge- and fee-collecting organizations shall declare and remit collected charge and fee amounts on a monthly basis and make account-finalization on an annual basis in accordance with the Law on Tax Administration and the Government’s Decree No. 126/2020/ND-CP of October 19, 2020, detailing a number of articles of the Law on Tax Administration, and guiding documents.

3. In case a fee payer has paid a fee but is disqualified for issuance of a passport, laissez-passer, or an AB stamp, the fee-collecting organization shall refund the collected fee amount when notifying the dossier-processing result to the fee payer; in case a fee payer refuses to receive the dossier-processing result, the fee-collecting organization is not required to refund the collected fee amount. In case a charge payer has paid a charge but is disqualified for issuance of a passport and other papers valid for entry, exit and residence of foreigners in Vietnam or refuses to receive the dossier-processing result, the charge-collecting organization is not required to refund the collected charge amount.

Article 7. Charge and fee management

1. For charge-collecting organizations which are the Immigration Department; provincial-level Departments of Public Security and Border Guard Commands; public security offices of rural districts, urban districts, towns and cities of provinces and centrally run cities; and public security offices of communes, wards, townships:

a/ Charge-collecting organizations may retain 20% of the collected charge amounts to cover the expenses specified in Article 5 of the Government’s Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP of August 23, 2016, detailing and guiding a number of articles of the Law on Charges and Fees, in which, other expenses related to job performance, service provision, and fee collection include also:

- Expenses for travel, accommodation, hiring interpreters, and watching detained foreigners; expenses for medical examination and treatment for foreigners when they get sick; escorting foreigners who illegally reside in Vietnam or violate Vietnam’s law to their home countries.  The retained charge amounts shall only be spent on these expense items when representative missions of the home countries of the violating foreigners refuse to bear these expenses or there are no representative missions of their home countries in Vietnam.

In case a competent state agency announces the state of an epidemic, the charge-collecting organizations may decide on payment of the above expenses as well as other expenses that directly serve the epidemic prevention and control work in handling cases of foreigners’ violation of law.

- Expenses for providing training and further training to improve the qualifications and knowledge of officials and soldiers engaged in immigration management work.

- Expenses for application of advanced and modern science and technology serving immigration management work.

- Expenses for negotiation and cooperation with foreign parties in issuance of visas and papers related to exit from and entry into Vietnam for foreigners. 

- Expenses for payment of additional income to improve the lives of officials and soldiers engaged in immigration management work in accordance with law (if any).

b/ Charge-collecting organizations shall remit the remaining 80% of the collected charge amounts into the state budget under the chapters and sub-items of the current State Budget Index.

2. For charge-collecting organizations which are the Consular Department and the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Affairs:

a/ Charge-collecting organizations shall remit the whole collected charge amounts into the state budget, except the case specified at Point b of this Clause. Funds for job performance, service provision, and charge collection shall be allocated from the state budget within fund estimates of these organizations according to the state budget spending regimes and norms;

b/ In case a charge-collecting organization is a state agency of which operating expenses are covered by collected charge amounts under Clause 1, Article 4 of Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP, it may retain 20% of the collected charge amount to cover the expenses under Article 5 of Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP, and Article 4 of the Minister of Finance’s Circular No. 07/2020/TT-BTC of February 3, 2020, prescribing financial and asset management regimes applicable to overseas Vietnamese missions, and remit the remaining 80% of the collected charge amount into the state budget under the chapters and sub-items of the current State Budget Index.

3. Fee-collecting organizations shall remit the whole collected fee amount into the state budget under the chapters and sub-items of the current State Budget Index. Funds for job performance and fee collection shall be allocated from the state budget within fund estimates of these organizations according to state budget spending regime and norms.

Article 8. Organization of implementation

1. This Circular takes effect on May 22, 2021. This Circular replaces the Minister of Finance’s Circular No. 219/2016/TT-BTC of November 10, 2016, prescribing the rates of charges and fees related to entry into, exit from, transit through and residence in Vietnam and charge and fee collection, remittance, management and use, and the Minister of Finance’s Circular No. 41/2020/TT-BTC of May 18, 2020, amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular No. 219/2016/TT-BTC.

2. Other contents related to the collection, remittance, management and use of charges and fees, documents for charge and fee collection, and publicization of information on  charge and fee collection regimes which are not mentioned in this Circular must comply with the Law on Charges and Fees; Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP; Law on Tax Administration; Decree No. 126/2020/ND-CP, and the Minister of Finance’s Circular No. 303/2016/TT-BTC of November 15, 2016, prescribing the printing, distribution, management and use of documents for the collection of charges and fees being state budget revenues.

3. In the course of implementation, if any documents referred to in this Circular are amended, supplemented or replaced, the amending, supplementing, or replacing documents shall prevail.

4. Any problems arising in the course of implementation of this Circular should be promptly reported to the Ministry of Finance for study and additional guidance.-

For the Minister of Finance
Deputy Minister
VU THI MAI

* The Charge and Fee Tariff promulgated together with this Circular is not translated.