Vietnam 2025 Merger: Does Your Address or Pink Book Change (Foreign Owners)?

On 1 July 2025 Vietnam carried out its biggest administrative reorganization in decades, and Ho Chi Minh City was at the centre of it. If you are a foreign owner, the natural worry is simple: my certificate says a district that no longer exists, so is my pink book still good, and do I have to run to an office to fix it? The short answer, according to public information, is reassuring: your ownership does not change, your certificate stays valid, and there is no forced re-issue.

This guide explains what actually changed, what it means for your pink book and your address on paper, how to look up your new ward, and what to check if you are buying right now. Figures and procedures below are indicative and drawn from public sources; this is general information, not legal advice.

What the 2025 reorganization actually did

According to public information, Vietnam consolidated from 63 to 34 provinces and centrally-run cities from 1 July 2025. Ho Chi Minh City was expanded by merging it with Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau into a single, larger Ho Chi Minh City of roughly 6,772 km² and about 14 million people.

Two structural changes matter most for property owners:

• The district level was abolished. Vietnam moved to a two-tier local model: city/province at the top, and ward/commune (plus special zones) at the bottom. The intermediate “quan/huyen” (district) layer that appears on many older documents no longer exists as an administrative unit.
• Wards and communes were merged and renamed. According to public information, the expanded Ho Chi Minh City was reorganized into 168 units — 113 wards, 54 communes, and 1 special zone (Con Dao). So the name on your address (the ward, and in many cases the city) may be different, even though the building and land are exactly where they always were.

That is the core of the confusion: your parcel did not move, but the words used to describe its location did.

Does your pink book change? No — and here is why

The “pink book” (the Certificate of Land Use Rights and Ownership of Assets Attached to Land) records what you own and the rights attached to it. The merger changed administrative boundaries and names, not the substance of ownership. According to public information:

• Certificates issued before the reorganization remain legally valid. There is no automatic expiry and no blanket cancellation tied to the merger.
• There is no forced, city-wide re-issue. You are not required to surrender your old pink book and collect a new one simply because your ward was renamed or your district was abolished.
• The new naming is applied when you next transact. The change from the old commune/district/province wording to the new ward/city wording is made when you register a change on the property — a transfer (sale), gift, inheritance, mortgage, or a voluntary re-issue — not before.

In plain terms: if you do nothing, you still own the property, and the old address on your certificate is still recognized. The paperwork catches up to the new name at the next natural touchpoint.

Question	What public information indicates
Is my old pink book still valid?	Yes — existing certificates stay legally valid; no forced re-issue.
Did my ownership or rights change?	No — the merger changed boundaries/names, not what you own.
Must I update the address now?	No — it is updated when you next transact (sale, gift, inheritance, mortgage, re-issue).
What does the update cost?	The merger-related correction is generally handled without the usual re-issue fee; confirm locally.
Where do I file if I choose to update?	The one-stop public administration centre serving your new ward/commune.
Where do I look up my new ward?	National Public Service Portal, VNPost tool (diachi.vnpost.vn), or a merger-lookup site.

Do you have to update it — and is it free?

You are not obliged to update proactively. But there are two situations where the address on the certificate gets refreshed:

1. You transact. When you sell, gift, inherit, or mortgage, the registration is processed under the new ward/city name. The new address flows onto the updated certificate or the buyer’s fresh certificate at that point.
2. You choose to correct it voluntarily. Some owners prefer a clean certificate that already shows the new ward — for example, before listing for sale, or to keep bank and tax records consistent.

According to public information, if you elect to update, the dossier is straightforward: an application to register changes (a standard land-registration form, referenced in public guidance as Form No. 18 under Decree No. 151), your original certificate, and — if someone files on your behalf — a notarized or certified power of attorney. It is submitted to the public administration service centre at city/commune level, with a stated turnaround of no more than five working days for the information adjustment.

On cost: the correction that arises purely from the reorganization is generally treated as an administrative name change rather than a paid re-issue. The parallel guidance for businesses is explicit that the equivalent address update is free of charge (public guidance references Notification No. 4370/BTC-DNTN and a three-business-day turnaround for company records). For land certificates, treat “free for the merger correction” as the reasonable expectation but confirm the current fee schedule at your local office, because notary, translation, or agent fees for a full transaction are always separate and are not waived.

Because fee schedules and forms can be revised, verify the exact requirement and any charge with the land registration office serving your new ward before you file. Flag anything a broker tells you that sounds like a mandatory paid “merger re-issue” — according to public information, no such blanket requirement exists.

How to look up your new ward address

You do not need to guess your new ward. Use a tool that maps the old address to the new one and keep the result on file:

• National Public Service Portal — the central government portal that consolidated administrative services from 1 July 2025.
• Vietnam Post address-conversion tool (diachi.vnpost.vn) — designed to accept both old and new formats and map between them, which is handy for deliveries, banking, and forms during the transition.
• Merger-lookup sites such as sapnhap.org, which let you enter the former district and ward and return the current ward/commune name.

Practical tips for foreign owners:

• Enter the old district + old ward exactly as they appear on your pink book, then record the new ward/commune name the tool returns.
• Save a screenshot or printout of the mapping and store it with your certificate, lease, and utility bills. It makes future bank, tax, visa, and notary steps much smoother.
• Expect the format to lose the district line entirely: an address that used to read “Ward X, District Y, HCMC” typically becomes “New Ward Z, Ho Chi Minh City.” Well-known localities like Thao Dien or Thu Thiem now sit inside their designated new wards rather than a district.
• During the transition many systems accept both old and new addresses, so you are unlikely to be locked out of a service simply because one database has not caught up.

What this means if you are buying right now

For a purchase in 2026, the merger adds a short reconciliation step rather than a new obstacle. The property is the same; you just need the paperwork to line up cleanly before money moves.

Focus on these checks:

• Reconcile old vs. new address. The pink book may still show the pre-merger district/ward, while the listing, the notary, and the bank use the new ward. Confirm — using the lookup tools above — that the old and new descriptions point to the same ward, street, parcel/plot number, and (for apartments) the same unit.
• Verify the certificate at the right office. Confirm the certificate is genuine and unencumbered at the land registration office now serving the new ward. Boundaries moved; make sure you are checking with the authority that currently holds the file.
• Match the seller and the parcel. Check that the seller’s ID matches the name on the certificate and that the plot/apartment identifiers on the certificate match the physical unit you are viewing.
• Contract wording the notary will accept. Make sure the deposit agreement and sale-and-purchase contract reference an address format acceptable to the notary handling the transfer, so the transaction is not delayed by a name mismatch.
• Foreign-ownership basics still apply. The merger does not change the rules on what foreigners may buy or the project-level foreign quota — verify those separately before you commit.

A structured due-diligence pass catches nearly all merger-related mismatches. Our Vietnam property due diligence checklist walks through certificate verification and parcel matching, and The buying process for foreigners shows where the address reconciliation fits in the overall flow. If you are taking handover of a new apartment, the Apartment handover inspection in Vietnam guide covers what to confirm on the day.

A note on land-price tables during the transition

One more piece of context, because it affects taxes and fees rather than your ownership. According to public information, during the transition the expanded Ho Chi Minh City continued to apply the three pre-merger land-price tables by area through the end of 2025, with a single unified land-price table for the whole city expected to take effect from 1 January 2026.

For you as an owner this mostly matters at transaction time: registration fees, transfer tax, and related charges are calculated off the applicable land-price table, so the figure used may differ between a deal closed in 2025 and one closed in 2026, and between the old sub-areas. It does not change what your pink book says you own — it changes the numbers on the fee calculation. Ask your notary or agent which table applies to your specific ward and closing date.

Bottom line for foreign owners

• Your ownership is unchanged; your pink book stays valid.
• There is no forced re-issue — the new ward/city name is applied when you next transact or if you choose a voluntary correction.
• The merger-related correction is generally free, but confirm fees and forms at your local office.
• Look up your new ward on an official/reputable tool and keep the mapping with your documents.
• If buying, reconcile old vs. new address and verify the certificate at the office serving the new ward.

This article is general information and current as of 2026 based on public sources; it is not legal advice. Administrative rules, forms, and fees are still settling after the reorganization, so verify the specifics for your property with the land registration office serving your ward, a licensed notary, and the National Public Service Portal before you act.

Want help checking your certificate’s old-vs-new address, or sourcing a foreigner-eligible unit at the developer price with live availability? Message our team on Zalo or WhatsApp for a quick, honest read on your situation — or browse projects to see what is currently available.