ID card (căn cước) in Pleiku: where, how, fees

Card expired, birthday means it must be replaced, or lost just when you need it? The question in Pleiku is the same: where do you apply, and do you have to go to the provincial police? Since 1 July 2026 you can apply at the provincial identity office or at the commune or ward police, so this page goes in the order you will meet it: where to apply, who must replace a card, documents, applying online, how long it takes and what it costs. If you are not sure which ward you now belong to after the merger, see Pleiku wards after the merger.

Where to apply for an ID card in Pleiku

You can now apply at the identity office of the provincial police or at the police of your commune or ward. A commune or ward police station, or its one-stop counter, takes your file wherever you live, as long as that office has started this service. Where it is needed, the identity office can also come to another agency or to your home.

Three collection points in the Pleiku area are on the provincial police list:

Files are taken in office hours, Monday to Friday, except public holidays and Tết. Children from six up to 14 apply in person at the commune or ward police, with a legal representative.

Good to know: phone or call in at your own ward or commune police first to ask whether they take ID card files, because the provincial list may be out of date.

Who has to have a card, and when to replace it

Whether a child has just reached the age, your parents hold an old card, or someone still carries the old identity paper, the 2023 Identity Law sets the rule:

The old identity paper (chứng minh nhân dân) had a hard stop: even if it still showed a later expiry, it was valid only until the end of 31 December 2024.

Besides age, you replace the card if you change or correct your name or date of birth, your appearance changes, there is an error printed on the card, your personal ID number is reissued, details change because of an administrative merger, or you simply ask for it. You get a new card if the old one is lost, damaged or you regain Vietnamese nationality. One thing helps Pleiku residents after the merger: if the card changes because of the merger, the officer reuses your face photo, fingerprints and iris scan from your last card, so nothing is taken again.

Documents and applying in person

You submit one set of documents. It is a request form for identity procedures, form DC02, which has applied since 1 July 2026. If your details are not yet in the national population database, add the population information form (DC01) and the paper that shows your details.

At the counter you give your full name, personal ID number and residence so the officer can check them against the national population database, then the officer takes your fingerprints, face photo and iris scan. You sign the form and get an appointment slip; if you want the card sent somewhere other than the place on the slip, you pay the delivery fee yourself. If the file is refused, the office must tell you in writing and give the reason.

Good to know: bring your old card when you replace it, because the office takes it back.

Applying online through VNeID or the public service portal

If office hours are hard for you, you can do the form part on your phone. For a first card from age six and for replacement cards, you go to the national public service portal or the VNeID app, choose the procedure, check your details in the population database, and book a time and a commune or ward police office. Files for children under six, and for lost-card replacement, can be done fully online. You collect the card at the police office that took the file, or have it posted to your address.

The new law also allows replacement after a merger change, and a new card after loss or damage, to be done online or in person. Since 1 May 2025, Gia Lai police have also let people replace a card through the Ministry of Public Security portal without going in for biometrics, but only if the card was first issued on or after 1 July 2024, and the fee is paid by QR code, ATM card or bank account.

How long it takes

You get the card within seven working days of the office receiving a complete file, and the same limit applies at commune and ward level. A lost or damaged card replaced fully online takes up to five working days from a complete file and paid fee. The clock starts only when your file is complete.

Fees: what you pay and the key dates

Fees depend on a few layers of rules. The standard fees are:

The commune-level procedure repeats the 50,000 and 70,000 VND fees. Some groups pay nothing: children, older people, people with disabilities, people with revolutionary service and their relatives, ethnic minorities in especially difficult communes, residents of border communes and island districts, and poor households.

On top of that, replacement fees are halved until 31 December 2026, and the commune-level rules say the same. From 1 January 2027 the standard fees apply again unless the rules change.

Then there is a temporary waiver. From 15 August 2026 to 28 February 2027, a Vietnamese citizen with a level 2 electronic ID account who meets the conditions pays no fee for replacing or reissuing the card. The conditions are a level 2 account with five basic kinds of information and papers added in VNeID, and a replacement request made through the online service. The Gia Lai police have announced the same period.

Before you apply for replacement online, open VNeID and check that your account is level 2 and that all five kinds of papers are added, because that is what earns the waiver.

After the ID card: what next

If you have a new baby, birth registration is in birth and marriage registration in Pleiku. With a new card, your residence is in permanent residence registration in Pleiku, and a regular cost once you settle in is water prices in Pleiku. The rest of the paperwork for living in Pleiku is in Procedures.

To check the details yourself, read the collection-point notice on the Gia Lai portal, the full text of Circular 117/2026 on the government policy portal and the VNeID fee waiver notice from Gia Lai police.