Vanuatu citizenship by investment

Citizenship by investment is a separate procedure set out in a country’s law: a person makes an agreed contribution to the economy, passes screening and receives citizenship by decision of the relevant state body. There is no need to live in the country before applying, to pass a language exam or to wait years for naturalisation — the legal basis is a different one.

Citizenship is granted by the Citizenship Commission — a constitutional body acting under the Citizenship Act [Cap 112]. In all, the commission issues eight types of citizenship, and four of them are linked to investment:

In the official list of types of citizenship, the status under the DSP programme is recorded as honorary citizenship (Honorary Citizenship), not as ordinary citizenship. This is not a marketing formulation but a category from the law.

The difference in the construction of the status affects how it is inherited and which restrictions apply to it. Before choosing a route this is worth going through separately — by ear all four programmes sound the same.

Fit-and-proper screening under all the programmes is carried out by the Vanuatu Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). It also revises the screening procedures — the state publishes changes to the process in separate notices.

The commission has the right to revoke citizenship on three grounds: it was obtained by fraud; it was granted contrary to the Citizenship Act or the Constitution; after receiving it, the person does not observe the restrictions laid down by law.

The Vanuatu state body has posted a direct warning on its website: the programme is being counterfeited, and there are sites presenting themselves as official.

There is one marker: official websites of the government of Vanuatu end in .gov.vu. Separately, the agency has issued a statement about Vanuatu diplomatic passports that were sold abroad — such offers have nothing to do with the programme.