Household registration book to be scrapped

Future citizen management will be performed with a new online national database, according to Resolution 112/NQ-CP on the simplification of administrative procedures signed recently by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Each citizen will be issued a new ID card with a 12-digit national identification (NI) number, which incorporates all basic personal information, some of which is currently recorded in household registration books, known in Vietnamese as “so ho khau,” and identity card, or “chung minh thu.” 

The new ID card will include information such as name, place of birth, fingerprints, permanent address, marital status, and all data relating to births, deaths, number of children and criminal convictions.

With the abolishment of the household registration book, some time-consuming administrative procedures, such as procedures to change persons listed in a book, procedures to obtain a new book when moving houses, or procedures to void permanent residency, will be scrapped.

The procedures to declare temporary residence with ward- and commune-level police will also be abolished.

Citizens will also no longer be required to present household registration books and ID cards when registering vehicles, registering businesses, or procedures at border gates.

Instead, all personal procedures will be performed with the NI number, as all changes of personal information will be updated on the national database and recorded in each person’s NI number.

Senior Lieutenant Colonel Tran Hong Phu, Deputy Director of the Department on Residential Management Registration and National Citizen Database, under the Ministry of Public Security, told Dan Tri e-newspaper that until the end of 2018 and early 2019, the ministry will complete gathering personal information on all the population to improve efficiency when conducting administrative procedures.

The issuance of the new ID card is being conducted in 16 cities and provinces across the country in a pilot project and will be expanded.

The Government has planned that by 2020, all Vietnamese citizens will be provided the new ID card with NI numbers.

Since becoming effective in the 1960s, the household registration book system has played an important role in Vietnamese people’s lives. As a main method for the Government to manage public security, economic planning, and control of immigration, it is required in many administrative procedures. In many cases, possessing a registration book is a condition for being qualified for a certain job, which has been lamented as causing inequality among people from different regions.