Angelina Jolie has already adopted from Cambodia and Ethiopia

Vu Duc Long, head of the country's international adoption department, said he had received papers a few days ago asking for "permission" to adopt.

"We consider her like any other American who wants to adopt children from Vietnam," Vu Duc Long said.

Two of the couple's three children were adopted from Cambodia and Ethiopia.

"She is not yet married so the file was from her individually. It will take a few months for us to consider this," Vu Duc Long said.

Jolie gave birth to Brad Pitt's child last May

The actors spent the Thanksgiving holiday last November in an orphanage near Ho Chi Minh City playing with the children.

Last May, the pair had a baby daughter in Namibia, called Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt.

Pitt later told US TV programme Today that becoming a parent was the "best thing" he had ever done.

In 2002, Jolie adopted her first child, Maddox, from Cambodia, who is now five. Three years later, she signed papers to adopt an Ethiopian baby called Zahara, who is now two.