HANOI (Vietnam News/Asia News Network): The newest version of Vietnam’s passport complies with international regulations and is recognised by most countries in the world, Spokesman of the Ministry of Public Security Lt-Gen To An Xo has stated.

Speaking at the government’s regular press briefing Xo, who is also the Chief of the Public Security Ministry’s Office, said the new passport complies with regulations in the 2019 Law on Exit and Entry of Vietnamese Citizens and also meets the conditions and standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

Many countries, including Japan, the Republic of Korea, Switzerland and Mongolia, do not have the place of birth information on their passports, Xo said.

“Most countries in the world still recognise the new version of the Vietnamese passport. Only three - Germany, Spain, and the Czech Republic - temporarily aren't recognising it due to some technical factors,” he continued.

To create favourable conditions for Vietnamese citizens to work, study and travel abroad, the MPS and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are working with partners of Germany, Spain and the Czech Republic to deal with these technical issues, which Xo said will be handled “very early”.

These three European countries have taken issue with the new passports’ omission of the place of birth (province/city) field of information, which they claim makes it difficult for immigration authorities to properly verify the identity of the passport holder.

The British and French embassies in Vietnam, on the other hand, have announced their continued recognition of Vietnam’s new passports but urged travellers and visa applicants to stay up-to-date with the acceptance situation of documents.

The public security representative said the short-term solution is that the MPS will add the place of birth information to the passport’s appendix. If necessary, holders of new passports can go to the MPS’s Immigration Department or Vietnam’s overseas representative agencies to add their place of birth to the appendix.

The public security ministry will coordinate with other ministries and sectors to consider relevant legal regulations to supplement the place of birth in the latest versions of the passport, according to the official.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has ordered the Ministry of Public Security to find solutions to the passport issue, to avoid any negative impacts while the country reopens and pursues socio-economic recovery.

The Vietnamese Embassy in the Czech Republic will add place-of-birth information via an annotation inside the new passports if Vietnamese citizens request it, according to Ambassador Thai Xuan Dung.

The move came after the Czech Embassy in Hanoi sent an official note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Consular Department, on its refusal to recognise Vietnam's new-style passports, which have navy-blue covers, from July 1, 2022.

Dung said the embassy is actively coordinating with Vietnamese authorities and working with the Czech side to address the issue.

According to an announcement released by the Embassy on Aug 2, the place-of-birth annotation would be on Page 4 of the new passports, to facilitate holders of the new passports to apply for visa extensions or other public administrative services in Czech Republic.

Holders of passports issued before Aug 2 can visit the embassy for annotations to be added, and receive them back the same day, Dung said.

By the end of July, the Vietnamese Embassy in the Czech Republic had issued about 50 new-style passports to Vietnamese citizens, mainly for newborn children and those who lost their passports, the ambassador said.