Dozens of states sell citizenship by investment, but Vanuatu long held a niche of its own: nowhere in the world was a passport issued faster or with fewer formalities. That same speed brought the programme under fire: the legislative act definitively stripping Vanuatu citizens of visa-free Schengen access was adopted on 19 December 2024 and has applied since 3 February 2025, and since July 2025 even here biometrics are mandatory. Vanuatu is the one country in which the EU's visa suspension mechanism has run its full cycle to the end, which is why its story is set out below step by step: it is the only worked example a reader has of how such a procedure finishes — and, at the same time, of what now hangs over the Caribbean five. Below: what the Vanuatu passport is worth today, how the procedure works and who still benefits.
The Concept
Vanuatu is a Pacific island state with the world's fastest citizenship-by-investment program. A passport takes two to three months, with no residence requirement or language exams: the contribution starts at ~US$130,000, the procedure is almost entirely remote, and government fees can officially be paid in cryptocurrency via BitPay — unique for the industry. Speed and simplicity made the program one of the world's best-selling — and drew the visa sanctions dissected below.
History and Reputation
The modern program grew out of the 2017 Development Support Program. During the pandemic, passport sales funded a substantial share of the state budget; the flip side was weak vetting — passports reached, among others, people flagged in Interpol databases. Those stories triggered the EU pressure the programme lives under to this day: partial suspension of visa-free access from May 2022, its extension to all nationals from February 2023, and a permanent visa requirement from February 2025 — the step-by-step chronology, with the citation for each act, is set out in the mobility section. The response came in the 2025–2026 reforms: external due diligence, biometrics, revocation of improperly issued passports (about thirty) and the relaunch of the CIIP investment plan after a hundred-day pause.
Price and Speed
The main route is the Development Support Program (DSP): a non-refundable contribution from $130,000 for a single applicant, ~$150,000 for a couple, ~$180,000 for a family of four (+$15,000 per child under 25). The alternative is the Capital Investment Immigration Plan (CIIP): ~$155,000–165,000 for a family of up to four, of which about $50,000 is a redeemable investment in an agricultural fund (coffee/cocoa) with a multi-year return horizon; after the 2025 suspension the plan has been relaunched. A real-estate option (REO) from $200,000 exists, but approved projects are few. On top: due diligence (from $5,000), biometrics, translations and professional support.
Timelines remain the market's best: the marketed 30–45 days became, with biometrics, a realistic two to three months — applicants must give fingerprints in Port Vila or at consulates (Hong Kong, Dubai, Brussels).
Vetting and Compliance
After the wave of criticism Vanuatu turned the program toward international standards: external due-diligence providers, sanctions and watch-list screening, tougher source-of-funds requirements, nationality stop-lists and reviews of previously issued passports. For a private client this means more predictable but more demanding compliance: a clean history, transparent capital and a carefully assembled file.
Mobility: What Remains
Here lies the main weakness — and here lies the whole point of this page. In the Henley 2026 index the Vanuatu passport slid to around 50th place with ~90 visa-free destinations, one of the steepest falls in the index's history (see the passport indices). The mechanics that produced that number matter more than the number itself. Vanuatu went through the European suspension mechanism in full, in four stages, each with a precise citation.
- 4 May 2022 – 3 February 2023: partial suspension. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/693 withdrew visa-free access not from everyone, but only from Vanuatu nationals holding ordinary passports issued on or after 25 May 2015 — the date from which the country began selling citizenship.
- 4 February 2023 – 3 August 2024: suspension for all. Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/222 extended the suspension of Annex II to all Vanuatu nationals without exception, for 18 months. This is the step that in practice closed Schengen to the entire country.
- 4 August 2024 – 3 February 2025: extension. Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/2059 extended the total suspension by a further six months, exhausting the temporary-measures headroom the mechanism allows.
- 19 December 2024, applicable from 3 February 2025: a permanent visa requirement. Regulation (EU) 2025/11 of the European Parliament and of the Council transferred Vanuatu from Part 1 of Annex II ("visa-free") to Part 1 of Annex I ("visa required") of Regulation (EU) 2018/1806. This is no longer a suspension but a permanent rule adopted by the ordinary legislative procedure; reversing it takes a new regulation of the Parliament and the Council, not a Commission decision.
This page previously read "Schengen is closed since 12 December 2024". No such date appears in the acts and the claim has been corrected: the regulation was adopted on 19 December 2024, the visa requirement applies from 3 February 2025, and in practice visa-free access had already gone on 4 May 2022 (partially) and on 4 February 2023 (for everyone). The Commission set out its reasons plainly in the recitals to Regulation 2025/11: screening of an application takes a maximum of 14 days, extendable to 30; the rejection rate is "extremely low"; and in 2023 most applicants were nationals of China (519) and Russia (237), with Vanuatu — unlike other states running such schemes — continuing to accept applications from Russian nationals.
The UK closed in July 2023, and Vanuatu still sits among the visa nationals in Appendix Visitor: Visa national list of the Immigration Rules, alongside Dominica and St Lucia. What remains of note: Russia (visa-free since 2016), Singapore, Hong Kong and the Asia-Pacific. Restoring European access is discussed, but with no timeline — and under the EU's new visa mechanism (where running a CBI programme is itself a ground for suspension) it should not be counted on. If a visa is obtained after all, the rules of Schengen stay are in 90/180.
Taxes and Residency
The second draw is taxes — or their absence: no tax on worldwide income, capital gains, inheritance or wealth. But the passport does not create tax residency: to use the zero rates you must genuinely move your centre of vital interests — otherwise the treaty tie-breaker resolves the dispute in favour of the previous country. Vanuatu participates in automatic exchange: accounts are visible through CRS, and a "zero" jurisdiction has long ceased to mean banking secrecy. The OECD keeps the program on its high-risk list for CRS circumvention — banks apply enhanced due diligence to these passports.
Typical Mistakes
- Buying Vanuatu for Europe. Schengen and the UK are closed; for European mobility look at the Caribbean programs or Türkiye.
- Believing in "30 days, fully remote". Biometrics are mandatory — budget a visit to Port Vila or a consulate and two to three months.
- Ignoring the banking optics. A Vanuatu passport is an enhanced-due-diligence trigger at many banks; prepare the structure and source-of-funds story.
- Calling CIIP "cheaper than DSP" without caveats — the $50,000 redemption is stretched over time and depends on the fund; compare effective costs honestly.
- Building a tax plan on the passport — without genuinely moving residency, Vanuatu's zero rates do not apply to you.
Vanuatu and the Competition
Against the Caribbean, Vanuatu wins on speed and price and loses on mobility: St Kitts, Dominica and Grenada start at $200,000–250,000 but keep Schengen (for now), and Grenada adds E-2 and China. The closest competitor in logic is Turkish citizenship: pricier and via real estate, but a stronger passport. The budget niche is shared with Egypt and Jordan, while newcomer Nauru is capturing the "fast" segment. If European visa-free access is critical, Vanuatu now trails almost everyone; if speed, crypto payment and a second document without relocation matter — the program stays in the game.
Who It Is For
After the EU cut-off the buyer profile narrowed to two: an urgent Plan B — a second citizenship within a couple of months, no relocation, no renunciation — and access to a zero-tax jurisdiction for those genuinely ready to rebuild their residency. For free movement around Europe the passport no longer works, and its reputational price at banks is higher than the Caribbean's. In the Five Flags theory this is Flag 1 in its purest form — fast, cheap, and with the shortest list of bonuses.
Q/A
We bought the Vanuatu passport for Schengen — where does that stand now?
Schengen is closed: Vanuatu nationals sit in the visa-required column of Schengen states' own lists, and that is settled law rather than a suspension. The UK is closed too — Vanuatu appears among the visa nationals in the Immigration Rules, alongside Dominica and St Lucia. The Caribbean five still hold Schengen access, so the comparison the passport was bought on now runs the other way.
If the EU withdrew visa-free access, can the citizenship itself be taken away?
No. The EU has no power to annul a third country's nationality, and none of the European acts on Vanuatu revoked a single passport. What depreciated was access, and it depreciated for every national at once — including people born on Efate who never heard of the programme. The passports Vanuatu did revoke were its own decision on documents issued irregularly.
The pitch says "30 days, fully remote" — is that still true?
Not any more. Biometric enrolment is mandatory for everyone, and fingerprints can only be given in Port Vila or at a consulate, so a trip and its logistics belong in the plan. The marketed timeline and the real one have parted company: the fastest programme in the world is still the fastest, but it is no longer fully remote.
Do Vanuatu's zero tax rates apply once I hold the passport?
No. A passport creates no tax residency: while your centre of vital interests stays in the old country, the treaty tie-breaker resolves against you. The zero rate works only for someone who has genuinely moved residency, and a zero-tax jurisdiction has not meant banking secrecy for years.
How will a bank read a client holding a Vanuatu passport?
Warily. In practice the Vanuatu document is a standard trigger for enhanced due diligence: the bank will ask about the ownership structure, the origin of the capital and why this particular citizenship. A second passport from a quieter jurisdiction helps more here than any explanation offered after the fact.