Vietnam seeks to assign commune-level police to manage foreigners’ temporary residence

The ministry is currently finalizing a draft amendment to Circular 53/2016, which regulates the procedures for declaring and receiving information on the temporary residence of foreigners in Vietnam.

The draft adds new responsibilities for accommodation facilities in handling suspicious cases.

In addition to providing complete and accurate information, the draft stipulates that when detecting foreigners without passports or substitute documents, or showing signs of violating immigration, entry, exit, or residence regulations, accommodation facilities must immediately report the violations to the nearest police authority for inspection.

If violations are detected in border areas, they must be reported to the nearest police unit or border guard station.

Compared to current regulations, the draft further expands the responsibilities of accommodation providers in border areas, in line with the Law on Entry, Exit, Transit, and Residence of Foreigners in Vietnam.

The draft also requires declarants to access the Ministry of Public Security’s portal for temporary residence declaration for foreigners, replacing separate provincial police platforms used previously.

Declarants are required to provide information such as the name, type, address, phone number, and email of the accommodation facility, as well as the contact details of the person responsible for declaration.

They must also upload an image of their ID card or passport information page, verify automatically extracted data, and confirm it to receive a declaration account.

Any changes to account information must be updated promptly on the portal.

The draft also stipulates that declarants are responsible for managing and securing accommodation accounts and all declared information.

If an account is found to be compromised, misused, or inaccessible, it must be reported immediately to commune, ward or special zone police.

Accounts will be automatically deactivated if no new declarations are made within 12 months, or if false declarations or inaccurate information about foreigners or accommodation facilities are detected.

Under the new proposal, the handling of accommodation account incidents would be transferred to commune-level police instead of provincial authorities.

Another key change is the proposal to allow commune-level police to directly receive and process data instead of provincial police as currently done.

The drafting agency said this adjustment is in line with administrative reform efforts and the policy of decentralizing procedures to local police units.

Regarding declaration content, temporary residence information includes foreigners' full name, gender, date of birth, nationality, passport or substitute documents, and expected duration of stay.