Vanuatu has the fastest citizenship by investment program in the World. The Government has significantly reduced the processing times for citizenship investors. If all the application and documentation is intact, the Government Letter of approval for citizenship is issued within 2-3 weeks and the passport takes another 2 weeks after approval letter. All in the whole process from the start to finish until passport takes maximum little over 1 month.
Vanuatu first operated citizenship for sale scheme in the 1990s, later the Vanuatu government revived the new economic citizenship programs to boost revenue. Vanuatu Economic Rehabilitation Program (VERP) was introduced after Cyclone Pam to raise additional fund for recovery activities.
The Capital Investment Immigration Plan (CIIP), which was originally introduced in 2014, was replaced by Vanuatu Real Estate Option Program (REO Program) in November 2016, and VERP by Vanuatu Development Support Program (VDSP) and Vanuatu Contribution Program (VCP) in March 2017. All the programs currently suspended except VCP/DSP
In May 2018, Vanuatu made significant changes to the citizenship for investment scheme, cutting the prices from $220,000 to just $150,000.
The Vanuatu citizenship DSP/VCP schemes are very interesting and exclusive passport by investment schemes with the fastest processing times in most cases within 2 months.
Vanuatu CBI
Vanuatu offers two types of citizenship by investment programs
- Development Support Program (DSP) offering Honorary citizenship
- Vanuatu Contribution Program (VCP) offering citizenship for investment
Both the schemes have USD 130,000 contributions.
There is no Real Estate Option Program attached to any of its Citizenship Programs
| Prices | DSP/VCP |
| Single Applicant | $130,000 |
| Married Couple | $150,000 |
| Couple + 1 Child | $165,000 |
| Couple + 2 Children | $180,000 |
| Additional Dependents | $10,000 per person |
| Due Diligence Fee | $5,000 per person |
* Agent or lawyer fee inclusive. No other additional fees apply
There are 12 agents approved by Vanuatu citizenship commission for DSP and 1 agent for VCP scheme
As of 2019, Vanuatu issued citizenship to over 1800 investor applicants, granting over 4000 CBI passports, with revenues reaching excess of Vt 7 billion. Today Vanuatu CBI scheme competes equally with Caribbean CBI schemes.
Fastest Citizenship Times
Vanuatu is one of the few CBI countries with fastest passport times. Below is the breakdown of application processing times for Vanuatu DSP/VCP schemes. Most citizenship cases completed within 30-40 days
- FIU Due diligence check: 2-3 days
- Letter of Approval: 20 days (3 weeks)
- Passport time: 5 days (after letter of approval is issued). Vanuatu CBI passport issued is valid for 10 years
- Delivery: 1-2 days
- Total: 30 days
Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU)
Under the Citizenship Regulation Order No.33 of 2019, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) is required to assist the Citizenship Screening Committee with final due diligence checks on potential applicants.
Prior to this, Development Support Program (DSP)/VCP Agents conduct the frontline due diligence by understanding the background of the applicants and the source of funds. This includes reviewing police clearance for any past criminal convictions.
DSP/VCP Agent-approved applications including valid passport, police or judicial clearance, Curriculum Vitae (VC) and any such requested documents are then submitted to the FIU where the due diligence process must be completed within 48 hours and a written finding to the Citizenship Screening Committee.
Although the Citizenship Regulation only requires FIU to check for criminal conviction, FIU utilizes several globally reputable screening servers in its due diligence process where these servers not only access the INTERPOL database or past criminal conviction records but also global blacklisting, sanctions, financial disqualification, corporate solvency, terrorism, individual bankruptcy and political-affluent persons
To ensure that our Citizenship Program remains globally competitive, great reliance is placed on the screening process and, FIU has employed an effective ongoing monitoring of all successful applicants in the Program.
FIU also includes annual internal re-screening of citizens and promptly sharing its findings with the Citizenship Commission, Vanuatu Immigration Services and other relevant authorities.
Once the application is approved by the Citizenship unit of Vanuatu, investors and family members qualify for passports.
Vanuatu Passport
Vanuatu offers one of the best and powerful passports in the world with visa free travel to over 129 countries including Russia, UK, EU schengen states, Ukraine etc.
As of July 2019, Vanuatu issues 10 year validity passports. Previously passports were issued only for 5 years. This makes the vanuatu scheme more attractive.
Taxes
Vanuatu has zero corporate tax, no income tax, no capital gains tax, no estate tax, no wealth tax, no withholding tax, no gift tax and no other personal income taxes.
Vanuatu has 15% VAT (Value added Tax or GST) on all goods & services.
Banks
ANZ bank, BSP (Bank of South Pacific) and BRED bank are the popular banking institutions. The Reserve bank of Vanuatu is responsible for granting bank licenses.
There are several national and international deposit taking banks in Vanuatu serving clients.
Asia Merchant Bank Limited
Pacific Private Bank Limited
Vantu Bank Limited
MG Commercial Bank Limited
Prosperity Banking Corporation Limited
Alpen Baruch Bank Limited
ELG Bank Limited
National bank of Vanuatu
