17/03/2017
Criminal Record Certificate from Vietnam: Form #1 or Form #2
Criminal record certificates (also called “Phieu Ly lich Tu phap”, “judicial record cards”, “police clearance certificates” or “police check”) means certificates (cards) issued by an agency managing the judicial record database and valid to prove whether or not an individual has a previous criminal conviction, is banned from holding certain posts, establishing or managing enterprises or cooperatives in case enterprises or cooperatives have been declared bankrupt by court.
Under the Law no. 28/2009/QH12 of National Assembly of Vietnam on Judicial Record, there are two types of criminal record certificates: criminal record certificate No.1 or Form #1 (Phieu Ly lich Tu phap so 1) and criminal record certificate No. 2 or Form #2 (Phieu Ly lich Tu phap so 2).
What is different between Form #1 and Form #2?
* For an unconvicted person:
The content of his/her criminal record certificate No.1 is almost the same with his/her criminal record certificate No.2.
* For a convict:
- In his/her Form #1:
+ For a convict who has insufficient conditions for remission of his/her previous criminal convictions, the words "with a previous criminal conviction" the committed crime, principal and additional penalties shall be written;
+ For a person whose previous criminal conviction has been remitted and for whom information on remission of previous criminal conviction has been updated in his/her judicial records, the words "no previous criminal conviction" shall be written;
+ For a person eligible for amnesty and for whom information on amnesty has been updated in his/her judicial record, the words "no previous criminal conviction" shall be written.
- In his/her Form #2:
His/her remitted previous criminal conviction, time of remission, previous criminal conviction not yet remitted, date of judgment pronouncement, serial number of the judgment, the court which has pronounced the judgment, crime, applicable article(s) and clause(s) of law, principal and additional penalties, civil obligation in the criminal judgment, court fee, and state of judgment enforcement.
In case a person is convicted under different judgments, information on his/her previous criminal convictions shall be written in the temporal order.
How do I know I need Form #1 or Form #2?
Criminal record certificate No. 1 (Form #1) shall be issued to (i) Vietnamese citizens and foreigners who resided or are currently residing in Vietnam and (ii) State agencies, political organizations and socio-political organizations who request the issuance of criminal record certificate to serve the personnel management, business registration, establishment and management of enterprises or cooperatives.
Criminal record certificate No. 2 (Form #2) shall be issued to (i) Procedure-conducting agencies who request the issuance of judicial record cards to serve the investigation, prosecution and adjudication work and (ii) at the request of individuals who want to know their judicial records. This means that whenever an individual requests the issuance of criminal record certificates for any purpose other than “to know their criminal records “, he/she must apply for the criminal record certificate No. 1 (Phieu Ly lich tu phap so 1).
However, in practice, an immigration agency of a country may ask for criminal certificate No 2 (Phieu Ly lich Tu phap so 2) for the purpose of immigation to that country, for example Canada: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/security/police-cert/asia-pacific/vietnam.asp; or Australia: http://www.border.gov.au/about/contact/offices-locations/vietnam.
Therefore, you should contact the organization who asks you to provide a criminal record certificate to know which type of criminal record certificate from Vietnam you need to obtain.
Please contact An Phat Pham Law Firm (via email addess: [email protected]) or call our hotline: +84 903405006) for more information.
How to get a police certificate – Vietnam
