The police industry listens and resolves administrative procedure problems

On September 5, the direct dialogue conference on administrative procedures (AP) and handling of APs in 2025 organized by the Ho Chi Minh City Police Department took place in a frank and open manner. More than 50 delegates representing organizations, businesses and city residents who had practical problems related to APs had a direct dialogue with leaders of the professional departments of the Ho Chi Minh City Police Department.

Untangling from specific situations

A series of issues were raised by citizens and businesses at the conference. The questions focused on administrative procedures directly related to people's lives such as: residence registration, immigration, criminal records, vehicle registration, driving license testing and issuance, personal identification, fire prevention and fighting procedures, etc.

People handle administrative procedures at Thanh My Tay Ward Police Station, Ho Chi Minh City

Among them, the procedure for issuing and exchanging driver's licenses is an issue that has received much attention. In response to this question, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thi Thanh Nga, Deputy Head of the Traffic Police Department, Ho Chi Minh City Police, said that Ho Chi Minh City Police has arranged many points for issuance and exchange throughout the city, of which the commune, ward and special zone police alone have 168 points, and the Traffic Police Department has 5 points. People can submit their applications online or directly at their locality.

However, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thi Thanh Nga noted that in cases where the driver's license has expired, the driver's license is lost, the data is not synchronized, the documents are torn or blurred, etc., people need to go directly to the renewal points to complete the procedures. "In case the license expires on the date printed on the license, people should submit the application directly to receive support, avoiding risks when doing online operations. In particular, according to the new regulations, a car driver's license that has expired for only 1 day must retake the theory test to be reissued, and cannot be extended within 1 month as before," Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thi Thanh Nga emphasized.

According to SGGP reporters on September 5 at Thanh My Tay Ward Police Station, people continuously came in and out to resolve administrative procedures. Although it was almost lunchtime, the officers and soldiers there still received and guided, not letting anyone leave without being resolved. According to the leader of Thanh My Tay Ward Police Station, since September 1, the commune and ward police have been qualified to receive and resolve up to 35 types of administrative procedures and online public services, from motor vehicle management, new issuance and renewal of citizen identification cards, electronic identification accounts, to receiving applications for renewal and re-issuance of driver's licenses.

The biggest change is in the field of vehicle registration. If previously, the ward and commune police were only allowed to register motorbikes and cars with less than 7 seats, now all items related to cars are transferred to the ward. Similarly, the authority to issue citizen identification cards, which used to belong to the district police, has also been transferred. Thanh My Tay ward police now receive procedures for people throughout Binh Thanh district (previously), not just within the administrative boundaries of the ward. The number of applications has therefore increased. On average, Thanh My Tay ward police handle over 400 applications per day, including about 200 applications for residence registration, 250 applications for citizen identification cards and 10-15 applications for vehicle registration.

Increase trust from streamlined procedures

At the conference, some accommodation facility owners expressed concern that they had declared temporary residence for foreign guests on time but the system had not verified it. Colonel Nguyen Thanh Tu, Deputy Head of the Immigration Department, Ho Chi Minh City Police Department, affirmed: “As long as the facility declares fully and on time, the information is legally valid, and guests’ rights are still guaranteed and other procedures can be carried out. Verification is the responsibility of local police.” In case the system is under maintenance or has problems, the facility can make a list of guests and report directly to the ward or commune police, then update it when the system is operating normally.

People also raised questions about the case of foreigners coming to Vietnam to work with a DN1 visa, after 3 months legally married to a Vietnamese citizen, what procedures need to be done if they want to continue staying. Answering this question, Colonel Nguyen Thanh Tu said: people in this case are allowed to switch to a family visit visa (TT) without having to leave the country, the application can be submitted to the Immigration Department, Ho Chi Minh City Police or the Immigration Department, Ministry of Public Security , and can be granted a temporary residence card for up to 3 years.

This card offers clear advantages over a visa exemption certificate, which only allows a maximum stay of 6 months per entry. Under current regulations, those legally married to Vietnamese citizens do not need a work permit. However, businesses employing such workers are still responsible for notifying the labor management agency.

Administrative procedures are the first "gateway" for people to access public services, so it is inevitable that businesses and people will encounter difficulties and frustrations. Many delegates highly appreciated the dialogue, saying that instead of avoiding it, the Ho Chi Minh City Police chose to have a direct dialogue with the people, listening frankly to promptly resolve the issue.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thi Viet Ha, Deputy Head of the Staff Department, Ho Chi Minh City Police, after implementing the 2-level local government model, through synthesis, Ho Chi Minh City Police recognized that there were certain difficulties and problems. Accordingly, in terms of legal issues, many legal documents, decrees, and circulars must be amended and supplemented to suit the reality. In addition, when merging 3 localities and wards and communes, it is required that the network infrastructure and data system be synchronized. This is still a problem that needs to be further overcome and improved in the coming time.

Continue to build a modern, synchronous "one-stop" model

Ho Chi Minh City Police have published 190 administrative procedures under their authority on the Ho Chi Minh City Police Electronic Information Portal. In 8 months, Ho Chi Minh City Police have received more than 9.5 million administrative procedure records, of which 8.5 million records were processed online, accounting for nearly 90%. Notably, 1,000 survey forms deployed by the Ministry of Public Security showed that the satisfaction rate of people and organizations in 2025 reached 100%.

After merging communes and wards, some existing headquarters have limited area and facilities. Ho Chi Minh City has a plan to create the best service points for people and businesses to come and resolve administrative procedures. There are 190 administrative procedures, however, when removing the district and county police, some procedures have been transferred to professional departments and commune, ward and special zone police. In the coming time, Ho Chi Minh City Police will continue to survey and advise on administrative procedures to be resolved at the place closest to the people. It is expected that by the end of 2025, 168 communes, wards and special zones will ensure a spacious and modern "one-stop" model, serving the people best.

THU HOAI - CAM NUONG - CAM TUYET

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/nganh-cong-an-lang-nghe-thao-go-vuong-mac-thu-tuc-hanh-chinh-post811816.html