Legal Validity of Criminal Records Card in Vietnam

Criminal records or judicial record is a record of criminal convictions of convicted persons with criminal judgments and decisions of courts which have taken legal effect, judgment execution status and ban on individuals to hold positions or setting up company in Vietnam, or managing enterprises and cooperatives in Vietnam in cases where enterprises or cooperatives are declared bankrupt by Courts.

The competent state authority will grant individuals a criminal or judicial record card, which is issued by the department of justice or data center of judicial records to provide information whether or not an individual has any criminal record; prohibited or not prohibited from holding the position, establishing company in Vietnam, managing enterprises and cooperatives in Vietnam in case the enterprise or cooperative is declared bankrupt. Within the enterprise, judicial record cards will support human resource management, business registration, establishment, management of enterprises, cooperatives … Besides, many government agencies and organizations requesting individuals to provide judicial record cards for some necessary activities i.e. criminal record requirement for employment, criminal record for work permit application, criminal record for immigration purposes. According to Clause 1, Article 44, Law on Judicial  Records 2009, there are two types of judicial record cards, including:

– Judicial record card No. 1 issued to Vietnamese citizens, foreigners who have or are residing in Vietnam to serve the purpose of human resource management, business registration, establishment, management of enterprises and cooperatives.

– Judicial record card No. 2 issued to Vietnamese citizen or foreigners whom have or are residing in Vietnam to serve the purpose of immigration, or others.

Depending on the purpose of using judicial record cards, individuals, agencies and organizations request the issuance of judicial record cards No. 1 or No. 2.

Pursuant to the Law on Judicial Records in 2009, Decree 111/2010 / ND-CP guiding the implementation of the Law on Judicial Records, the time limit for judicial record cards of Vietnam so far has not been clearly defined. Criminal record card’s time limit depend on the provisions in the documents of each relevant legal field and depending on the decision of the agency or organization that need to verify the status of judicial record of this individual.

As Articles 20, 24 and 28 of the Nationality Law of 2008, amended and supplemented in 2017, the application for admission, renunciation and return to Vietnamese nationality must have a judicial record card issued within no more than 90 days. For visa applications (VISA) at the US Embassy or the US Consulate General, the individual must have a judicial record card issued within 1 year for immigration verification.

Therefore, when individuals are required to provide judicial record cards at agencies and organizations, they must consider the regulations on the time limit that such agencies allow for judicial record cards. It is not contrary to the Law on Judicial Records in 2009, because the Law does not clearly stipulate the legal effect on two judicial record cards No. 1 and 2, as well as there are no regulations limiting the agencies and organizations to set the time limit for the criminal record cards in Vietnam.