Everything you gather, before the file is submitted.

Vanuatu citizenship is filed through a licensed designated agent, screened by the Vanuatu Financial Intelligence Unit with Interpol checks, and granted by the Citizenship Commission. None of that begins until your file is complete. The categories below are stable and the descriptions accurate, but exact quantities, formats, and which items need an apostille move with your nationality and your circumstances, so treat this as the map, not the signed instruction. Your agent gives you the binding, line-by-line list once your situation is known.

One principle runs through all of it. A document that is missing, expired, or uncertified does not slow the file down a little; it stops the clock entirely. The work is front-loaded on purpose. Get the gathering right, and the 30–60 day timeline is government processing, not a scramble on your end. The program timeline shows where this sits in the full sequence, and there is a downloadable readiness checklist further down this page.

This is where most files are won or lost. The Financial Intelligence Unit does not simply confirm you have the money; it tests that the money is lawful and documented from origin to today. For a Bitcoin holder that is a specific discipline, and it is the work cbi.vu does up front rather than leaving you to improvise at the worst moment.

• Bank reference letter. A letter from your bank, typically on letterhead and addressed as your agent directs, confirming the relationship and standing of your account.
• Bank statements. Recent statements covering the period your agent specifies, used to corroborate the reference and the wider source-of-funds picture.
• On-chain source-of-funds reconstruction. For Bitcoiners, a documented narrative that reconstructs the on-chain history: where the coins came from, what you paid, and records tying the Bitcoin to a lawful origin. Self-custodied coins with a clean trail are exactly what the screen rewards; an unexplained balance is what fails it. The full method is on the source-of-funds page.

The principle is simple to state and exacting to meet: a screenshot of a balance is not a source of funds. A clean chain of custody is, and assembling it is the single most valuable thing you do before the file goes in.

Gathering the documents is half the task. The other half is making them acceptable: copies an authority will trust, and where required an apostille that lets a Vanuatu official rely on a foreign document. Get this wrong and a complete-looking file is still rejected at the door.

• Certified copies. Most documents are submitted as copies certified by a notary, lawyer, or other authorized official, rather than as originals.
• Notarization. Certain documents are notarized to attest that a copy is true or a signature is genuine, as your agent directs.
• Apostille where required. Civil documents such as birth and marriage certificates and police clearances often need an apostille under the Hague Apostille Convention. Where your country is not a party, consular legalization stands in. Documents in another language are accompanied by a certified translation.
• In-person biometric enrolment. One mandatory in-person visit for fingerprint and facial capture, introduced by the Vanuatu Passport (Amendment) Act 2025. The file cannot clear without it. Four accredited centers: Port Vila, Dubai, Hong Kong, and New Caledonia, with a travelling consular option at additional cost.

Everything except the biometric step is remote. The enrolment is the single piece you cannot do from a desk, and any firm promising a no-travel passport is out of date or not being straight with you. We price the trip in from the start. The logistics sit on the program page.