Affidavit of Single Status for Marriage in Vietnam

About to register a marriage in Vietnam and need to prove you are free to marry? Vietnamese civil authorities require a single-status certificate. VietVisas handles the full process — affidavit, notarization, state authentication and consular legalization.

$500 all-in, ready in 3–5 days — delivered free to your door across all 50 states.

What it is

A document confirming you are unmarried, or divorced/widowed — free to marry. When one party is in the U.S., the Vietnamese civil registry needs it to complete a marriage registration with a foreign element.

What most people don't realize: no U.S. office issues a "single status certificate" in the Vietnamese sense. You prepare an affidavit of single status signed before a Notary, paired with a "no record of marriage" letter from your county or state — and the set then goes through a series of certifications before Vietnam will accept it. If you've been searching for a U.S. government office that hands one out the way Vietnam does — there isn't one.

When you need it

• Registering a marriage with someone in Vietnam.
• Marrying a person of a different nationality at a Vietnamese civil registry.
• Other civil-status procedures requiring proof of marital status.

Documents usually required

The part that surprises people: the application needs documents from both partners — the person in the U.S. and the partner in Vietnam. Plenty of applicants finish their own half before discovering the other half is missing, twelve time zones away.

• A "no record of marriage" letter from your state or county.
• Person in the U.S.: U.S. passport or green card (plus a Vietnamese passport if you have one), and a portrait photo.
• Partner in Vietnam: their CCCD (national ID) and a portrait photo.
• A personal information form — VietVisas sends you the template.
• Second marriage: the court's divorce judgment plus a few related documents.

Not sure what your situation needs? Message VietVisas for the exact list and the form — free advice, before you spend anything.

Not every document takes the same path

This is what sends files back, so here it is plainly.

Most documents in the set must travel the full chain — notary → state authentication → consular legalization. But the "no record of marriage" letter does not: it arrives already certified by the office that issued it, so notarizing it again is wasted effort.

Taking the wrong document to a notary costs you time; skipping the chain on the others gets the file returned. Much of this service is knowing which steps each document needs.

The 6-month rule — and which document it applies to

The "no record of marriage" letter must have been issued within the last six months when you file. It's the tightest deadline in the whole set.

So timing matters in both directions: start too early and it expires before you can file in Vietnam; start too late and there isn't room for county → notary → state authentication → legalization → shipping. Count backward from your intended registration date.

Apostille or consular legalization — which route does this package take?

From 11 September 2026, the Apostille Convention is in force for Vietnam: U.S. public documents carrying an apostille are recognized there. Consular legalization remains valid — anything already legalized keeps its effect, and offices in Vietnam still accept it.

VietVisas's $500 single-status package uses the consular legalization route, following the steps below. If you need an apostille for another U.S. document, see the apostille and consular legalization service.

The standard process — in the right order

1. Draft & notarize the affidavit of single status before a U.S. Notary Public.
2. State authentication at the Secretary of State (some states, e.g. New York, require County Clerk verification first).
3. Consular legalization at a Vietnamese representative office. Background: what consular legalization is.
4. Submit in Vietnam — at the commune- or ward-level People's Committee (UBND cấp xã) where the marriage is registered. District-level offices were abolished on 1 July 2025, so the file goes straight to the ward or commune.

Doing these steps out of order is the most common reason a file has to be redone. VietVisas follows the correct sequence from the first step.

Want more detail before deciding? Read the complete guide to the affidavit of single status — the full document set, the order, and what it costs to do yourself.

Common mistakes

• Name mismatch between passport and affidavit — middle names, diacritics and surname order included.
• Pre-signing before meeting the notary. The notary must witness the signature.
• A blurry notary seal, an expired commission, or Remote Online Notarization the receiving office won't accept.
• Missing secondary documents — a divorce decree or death certificate.
• Preparing too early, so the file expires before submission.

What these share: you usually only find out at the last stop, when the office in Vietnam hands the file back — and by then the originals are in Vietnam and have to travel back.

Names that don't match across your documents? Very common after naturalization. Send us photos of what you have — we'll look and tell you plainly what's missing.

What the $500 package includes

The service fee is $500 per set, covering the whole certification chain in the U.S. You're not running between a notary, the Secretary of State and a consular office yourself.

Included:

• Drafting the affidavit of single status.
• Notarization before a Notary Public.
• State authentication at the Secretary of State.
• Consular legalization at a Vietnamese representative office.
• Translation into Vietnamese and the remaining steps that make the package usable in Vietnam.
• FedEx express shipping from the consulate to your door, free in all 50 states.

Not included:

• The no-record-of-marriage letter from your county or state — you obtain that one yourself, since procedures and fees vary by location. If you don't know where to ask, message VietVisas and we'll point you to it.
• The steps and fees in Vietnam — filing and registering the marriage at the commune- or ward-level People's Committee where you register.

You pay only after the consulate has confirmed and a FedEx tracking number is on its way to you — by Zelle or Venmo. No deposit, nothing upfront.

Getting married in Vietnam soon? Message VietVisas for free advice — or call +1 (415) 390-6525.