U.S. actress Angelina Jolie (2nd L) leaves the Tam Binh orphanage with her previously adopted son Cambodian-born Maddox in Ho Chi Minh City March 15, 2007. Jolie was set to meet Vietnamese adoption authorities on Thursday ahead of taking custody of a boy from the orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City, officials said. [Reuters/Trung Nghia/Tuoi Tre Newspaper]

"She was very beautiful. She signed and had her photo taken," department official Dao Van Tran said outside the building.

Jolie has two adoptive children and a biological daughter with partner Hollywood heartthrob Brad Pitt.

She flew into the southern Vietnamese city on Wednesday night from Japan on a chartered plane. Her son Maddox and daughters Zahara and Shiloh Nouvel accompanied her.

Jolie, 31, filed adoption papers in early March through an unidentified American agency without Pitt because under Vietnamese law, an unmarried couple may not adopt a child. Single people may adopt children under the law.

In Vietnam, adoptions have been known to take as little as one month if background checks and issues of whether the adopting family can support a child are quickly resolved.

However, the process can take six months or longer in some cases.

Jolie and Pitt visited Ho Chi Minh City last November and met children at the orphanage.

The couple say they have no plans to marry but are committed to raising their children together. Their biological daughter, Shiloh Nouvel, was born last year. Jolie adopted Maddox from Cambodia and Zahara from Ethiopia before her relationship with Pitt, who has now become their adoptive father.

The couple starred in the 2005 movie "Mr. & Mrs. Smith". They are also working together on the film "A Mighty Heart" about the killing of a U.S. journalist by Pakistani militants.

Jolie won an Oscar in 1999 for best supporting actress in "Girl, Interrupted". She starred in the 2001 movie "Tomb Raider" which was filmed in Cambodia, neighbouring Vietnam.