The move came after the Czech Embassy in Hanoi sent an official note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Consular Department the same day, rejecting to recognize Vietnam’s new passports.
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The cover of the Vietnam's new passport |
“Vietnam’s new passports, which were issued from July 1, 2022, do not meet technical standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO),” the Czech Embassy announced in a statement on its official website.
“Therefore, the Czech Republic agrees with other European Union (E.U.) member countries to halt the recognition of its validity,” it said but did not specify the standards as prescribed by the ICAO that Vietnam’s new passports have not met.
In an announcement released later the same day, the Vietnamese Embassy in Czech said it began to issue passports in new design which has navy-blue covers from July 1, 2022, in replacement of the old green-covered ones.
The embassy is actively coordinating with Vietnamese authorities in working with the Czech side to address the issue, it noted, adding that it will add an annotation on the place of birth on Page 4 of the new passports to facilitate the Vietnamese holders to apply for visa extension or other public administrative services in Czech.
Holders of passports issued before August 2 can visit the embassy for annotations to be added, it said.
Czech Republic is among the three European countries having denied the recognition of Vietnam’s new passports. The others are Germany and Spain.
In separate announcements, both Embassies of Germany and Spain in Vietnam said the reason for the non-recognition of the new navy blue-coloured passports is that they do not have a place of birth (province/city) listed.
This can make it difficult for the German side to identify the specific locality where Vietnamese citizens were born, especially in the case of minors where ID number has not been granted, the Embassy of Germany said on July 27.
It noted the Vietnamese holders of the new passports who have already received visas to Germany should refrain from traveling since they will be denied entry at the border.
The Embassy of Spain in Vietnam described the place of birth of passport holders as an important information for personal identification, which is also required for processing Schengen visa applications.
Source: VNA