Germany officially recognises new Vietnamese passport, re-issues Schengen visa

This comes as the German Embassy in Vietnam posted a notice saying that Vietnamese passports issued from January 1, 2023, and containing information about the holders' place of birth have been officially recognised.

Therefore it is possible to re-issue C multi-year visas which had been suspended pending new passport recognitionm

The German Embassy also stated that passports issued between July 1, 2022, and December 31, 2022, without the place of birth on the identity page have also been recognised, providing that they are still valid and contain information about the place of birth added in the appendix.

In July 2022, Germany was one of the first countries to temporarily not issue visas to Vietnamese citizens with the newest version of the passport due to a number of technical factors.

The German authorities explained that passports without the place of birth cannot clearly identify the passport holder, especially in cases when the holder has the same surname.

By August, 2022, after several meetings between Vietnamese and German authorities, the Central European country has temporarily recognised the new version of the Vietnamese passport that contains additional information regarding place of birth.

Type C visa (also known as a Schengen visa) allows entry to one of the 26 Schengen countries and permits holders to freely move within the territory of the remaining 25 countries without any additional entry procedures. The Type D visa (or national visa) is issued by the German Embassy or Consulate in Vietnam, allowing freedom to travel in 25 countries within the Schengen area with a maximum stay of 90 days.