Note: If an adoption is modified or terminated by a court decision, the family registration officials must change the family registration to comply with the court decision.
If you are outside Laos
You may use the link provided under "Office Locations & Contacts" to get in touch with the nearest embassy of Laos in the country you are currently staying. The Embassy's consular service section will help you register the adoption in Laos.
Adoption of children requires the prior written consent of the adopting married couple and of the children’s natural parents except if [the latter] have had their parental rights withdrawn or have been recognised as incompetent or as disappeared.
If such children have reached the age of ten years, their consent shall also be required.
Ministry of Home Affairs
Vientiane
Laos
6376
Laos PDR
E-mail: info@moha.gov.la
Telephone: 212545, 212639, 213647, 213646
Fax: 213649, 217619
Lao PDR Mission abroad
check the menu on the left side of the page
Adopted children must be minor children.
Adoptive parents must be individuals who have reached the age of maturity and who have not had their parental rights withdrawn.
Explain the fees structure which is required for obtaining the certificate/document.
Explain the time until which the certificate/document is valid. e.g. Birth Certificate Valid Forever
Please attach documents that can be used by people. e.g. links
Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.
Decision regarding the approval of adoption may be issued within a month.
Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications. Attach videos using the following tag <&video type='website'>video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites. Please remove the '&' inside the tags during implementation. Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver, sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed. e.g In the following url 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M' Video ID is 'Y0US7oR_t3M'.
Adoptions are registered at the family registration office where the village head issues his approval for the adoption.
A list which displays the kind of information which is required to complete the procedure. e.g. 1. Date of Birth. 2. City or County of Birth.
Please provide the need for the procedure. e.g. Birth Certificate - why do we need to have a birth certificate?
Family Registration Organisation
The family registration organisation at the central level is under the Ministry of the Interior. At the provincial or prefecture level, it is subject to the provincial governor or the prefecture mayor. At the district level, it is subject to the district chief.
The government designated its appointed diplomatic and consular officials abroad as the one responsible for family registration and to conduct various types of registration for Lao nationals abroad.
Duties of the Family Registration Organisation
The Organization has the duty to: register family registration books, births, disappearances, deaths, marriages, divorces, adoptions, changes of first name and surname, changes in residence, as well as modifications, amendments, and cancellations of family registrations; to issue new certificates in the event that old certificates are lost; to maintain the record of family registration books; to issue family registration certificates; and to monitor and inspect family registrations.
Please explain what are other uses of obtaining this document/certificate. e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.
Ministry of Home Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Promulgation of the Law on Family Registration
Laos - Family Law
More information which might help people.