Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministryof Public Security (MPS) is planning to add the “place of birth” to the newpassport version to facilitate citizens’ seeking of visas to the Schengen countries.

The granting and use of the newpassport will be among the issues about which Minister of Public Security Gen. ToLam will be questioned at the 14th session of the National AssemblyStanding Committee on August 10.

Compared to the old passport, the newversion is produced by using modern technology to meet higher security requirementsand standards of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), accordingto the MPS’s report sent to lawmakers prior to the meeting.

Images of Vietnam’s typicallandscapes and cultural heritages are featured in the new passport with the aimof introducing the country’s land and people to international friends, itnoted.

So far, the MPS has granted 272,000passports of the new version.

In the report, Lam said according to theICAO regulations, compulsory information in a passport consists of the type ofpassport, full name, passport number, date of birth, sex, and passportexpiration date. ICAO also gave detailed regulations on the design and layoutof information on the page of personal details to ensure consistency amongcountries in the world.

The new passport version has closelyfollowed the above-mentioned rules and completely met international standards,the minister affirmed.

Explaining why the new passport doesn’tcontain information about the place of birth, he said ICAO did not designateother information like the place of birth as mandatory. According to the Law onExit and Entry of Vietnamese Citizens, information in passports also doesn’tinclude the place of birth.

On that basis, the MPS issued the newpassport version without the place of birth to facilitate citizens’ entry, hewent on.

Regarding some European countries’refusal to grant visas on the new passports, Vietnamese authorities have workedwith those countries and found that this is only a technical issue.

Since a passport without information aboutthe place of birth may cause difficulties for management in some countries, tocreate favourable conditions for Vietnamese citizens to seek visas to the 26Schengen countries, the MPS and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have agreed toadd the place of birth in the appendix of the new passport if its holders wish.

In the long term, the MPS will revisethe passport design and add the “place of birth” in the page of personaldetails, it noted, adding that it is collecting opinions about this issue fromthe parliament’s committees for defence - security and legal affairs, the GovernmentOffice, the  Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs./.