Registering a Child's Birth With Vietnam From Australia

A Vietnamese embassy or consulate can register the birth of a child born in Australia if both parents are Vietnamese citizens, or if one parent is Vietnamese and the parents agree in writing to choose Vietnamese nationality for the child. The mission then issues a Vietnamese birth certificate. A notary mainly helps when a signature cannot be given in person.

Key takeaways

• Vietnamese missions abroad register births in three situations: both parents Vietnamese; a Vietnamese mother with a stateless or unknown father; or one Vietnamese and one foreign parent who agree in writing to choose Vietnamese nationality.
• You lodge a registration form, the Australian birth certificate, proof of the parents' marriage, and, for mixed families, the nationality agreement.
• If the parents do not lodge the nationality agreement in person, their signatures must be certified. That is where a notary may come in.
• Vietnam joined the Apostille Convention, in force for Vietnam from 11 September 2026, so Australian documents going to Vietnam itself now take a DFAT apostille instead of legalisation.
• The embassy in Canberra and the consulates in Sydney and Perth each cover part of Australia. Check your own post before lodging.

Who can register a birth at a Vietnamese mission?

The Vietnamese Government's news portal, summarising the Law on Civil Status and its implementing rules, says a Vietnamese mission abroad can register the birth of a child born overseas in three situations. Circular 07/2023/TT-BNG, issued by Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the end of 2023, sets out how missions handle civil status matters, and a guide published by Vietnam's lawyers' magazine describes the same cases.

The parents	Can the mission register the birth?	What else is needed
Both Vietnamese citizens	Yes	The standard documents
Vietnamese mother, father stateless or unknown	Yes	The standard documents
One Vietnamese, one foreign citizen, such as an Australian	Yes, if both parents agree to choose Vietnamese nationality	A written agreement signed by both parents
One Vietnamese, one foreign, no agreement	Not on this route	Ask the mission about the child's position

Nationality is for the Vietnamese mission to decide, not a notary. If you are unsure whether your child can hold Vietnamese nationality alongside Australian citizenship, ask the embassy or consulate before you prepare documents.

Which documents does the mission ask for?

According to the Government's summary, the application includes:

• A birth registration form on the official template.
• The foreign birth certificate, or another document from the foreign authority confirming the birth and the mother-child relationship. In Australia, that is the certificate issued by your state or territory registry of births, deaths and marriages. If there is none, a witness statement or a written declaration of the birth may be accepted instead.
• Proof of the parents' marriage, unless both parents are Vietnamese citizens whose details are already held in Vietnam's population records.
• For mixed families, the parents' written agreement choosing Vietnamese nationality for the child.

Check with your mission whether it also wants copies of the parents' passports, a Vietnamese translation of the Australian certificate, or anything else. Requirements can differ in detail between posts, and a mission can ask for more.

The nationality agreement, and when a notary helps

This is the document most likely to need an Australian notary. The summaries say that if the parents do not lodge the agreement in person, their signatures must be certified. The Australian parent may be working interstate, or one parent may be overseas; in that case the signature has to be verified somewhere else.

1. Ask the mission first whether it will accept a signature certified by an Australian notary public, or whether it prefers the signature to be certified at the mission itself.
2. Prepare the agreement in the form the mission gives you, in Vietnamese or with the translation it asks for. Do not sign it yet.
3. Sign before the notary, with your passport or other photo identification. The notary confirms who signed and when, not whether the agreement is right for your child.
4. Ask whether the certificate needs DFAT. A document going only to a Vietnamese mission in Australia may not; one going to an authority in Vietnam now takes an apostille.
5. Lodge the agreement with the rest of the application, keeping copies of everything.

A notary can also certify copies of passports and certificates, if the mission asks for certified copies. Our guide to notarising Vietnamese documents covers the notary's role in more detail.

Getting the Australian documents right

Most delays come from small mismatches between documents rather than from the law. Before you lodge, lay the documents side by side and check:

• Names and diacritics. An Australian registry may record a Vietnamese name without its accents, or with the family name in a different position. If the child's or a parent's name appears differently on the birth certificate, the passports and the marriage certificate, ask the mission how it wants that explained.
• The marriage certificate. If you married in Vietnam, bring the original Vietnamese certificate. If you married in Australia, bring the Australian registry certificate, and ask whether the mission wants it translated.
• The birth certificate. A standard registry certificate that names both parents avoids questions later. Some states offer commemorative certificates that are not accepted as proof of birth.
• Copies. If the mission wants certified copies instead of originals, a notary can compare the copies with the originals and certify them.

How does this fit with the Australian side?

Registering the birth with Vietnam does not replace or change the Australian registration. Your child's birth is still registered with the state or territory registry, and any Australian passport is a separate application to the Australian Passport Office. A child born in Australia is generally an Australian citizen from birth if a parent was an Australian citizen or permanent resident at the time, and Australia allows its citizens to hold another nationality. The Department of Home Affairs explains Australian citizenship. Whether Vietnam treats your child as holding both is a question for the Vietnamese mission.

What changed with the apostille in September 2026?

A notice on the website of the Vietnamese Embassy in Australia says Vietnam has joined the Hague Apostille Convention, in force for Vietnam from 11 September 2026. From then, public documents moving between Vietnam and member states that have treaty relations with it need a single apostille in place of consular legalisation. Some member states objected to Vietnam's accession, and the Convention does not apply between Vietnam and those states, so check the HCCH status table on the day. In Australia, only DFAT issues apostilles. An apostille confirms the signature and seal on a document, never its contents.

For birth registration at a mission in Australia, the mission sees your Australian documents directly, so it may not need an apostille at all. The apostille matters more if you later deal with an authority inside Vietnam, for example registering the child's residence there. Our guide to apostilles for Vietnam explains the change.

Where do you lodge the application?

The mission that registers the birth is the one covering the area where a parent lives or where the child was born. Vietnam has an embassy in Canberra and consulates-general in Sydney and Perth, and each covers particular states and territories. Check which post covers you, whether it wants an appointment, and whether it accepts applications by post. Once the application is complete, the consular officer checks it, records the birth, and the mission issues a Vietnamese birth certificate; where the mission is connected to Vietnam's population system, a personal identification number is also issued. We do not quote fees or processing times; check the current figures with your post.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Leaving out the nationality agreement when one parent is not Vietnamese.
• Signing the agreement at home and posting it without certified signatures.
• Bringing a hospital record instead of the registry-issued birth certificate.
• Getting an apostille you do not need for a mission in Australia, or skipping one that an authority in Vietnam requires.
• Lodging at the wrong post for your state or territory.

A worked example

This is an illustration, not a real case. A Vietnamese mother and an Australian father in Perth want their son registered as a Vietnamese citizen. They ask the consulate, which confirms the documents, then prepare the written agreement choosing Vietnamese nationality. The father is working away, so he signs his part before a notary, who certifies his signature. The mother lodges the agreement with the registration form, the WA birth certificate and their marriage certificate, and the consulate issues a Vietnamese birth certificate.

In short

A Vietnamese mission in Australia can register your child's birth if both parents are Vietnamese, or if one parent is Vietnamese and both agree in writing to choose Vietnamese nationality. Bring the registration form, the Australian birth certificate and proof of marriage. If the agreement is not signed in person at the mission, the signatures must be certified, which a notary may be able to do if the mission accepts it. From 11 September 2026, documents for Vietnam itself take an apostille. Our guide to registering a birth overseas covers other countries, and our translation service can help if a Vietnamese translation is required.

People also search for

• How do I notarise Vietnamese documents in Australia?
• Does Vietnam accept an apostille now?
• Which documents do I need to register a birth overseas?
• Is a notary the same as a Justice of the Peace?
• What does a notary do with a signature?

Send us the form your mission gave you and who needs to sign, and we will explain each step before you book.