Vanuatu Citizenship: how to get it, what it costs, what it grants.
Vanuatu citizenship is hereditary, permanent, and obtainable by investment in 30–60 days, one of the fastest routes in the world. This is the plain-English guide: how the process works, what it costs all-in, the rights it carries, the tax structure, and the honest trade-off that most pages leave out.
Citizenship by investment, under Cap. 112.
The route to Vanuatu citizenship is citizenship by investment: a government-approved contribution, made through a licensed agent, in exchange for a lawful grant of citizenship under the Citizenship Act, Cap. 112. There is no residency requirement, no language test, no interview, and no annual cap, which is what makes the timeline fast. You complete a source-of-funds and due-diligence package screened by the Vanuatu Financial Intelligence Unit, attend one in-person biometric enrolment, and the Vanuatu Citizenship Commission grants the citizenship; the passport is issued after the grant. The full seven-stage walkthrough is on the process page, the two tracks (the donation-route DSP and the investment-route CIIP) are detailed in the Vanuatu CBI guide, and three composited file-shape case studies show what a real file looks like.
$145,000 all-in, 30 to 60 days.
Family pricing scales the government contribution; the full ladder, with a live BTC calculator, is on the Vanuatu passport cost page.
Hereditary citizenship, zero income tax.
Permanent and inherited.
Vanuatu citizenship is hereditary and permanent under Cap. 112: it passes to your children and theirs, and it cannot be revoked at a government’s whim the way a visa can. Dual citizenship is allowed, so you keep your existing nationality. Commonwealth member, Pacific Islands Forum member.
Zero, across the board.
Zero personal income tax, zero capital gains, zero inheritance, zero corporate income tax; the only material tax is a 15% VAT on local consumption. But a passport is not tax residency, and Vanuatu participates in CRS. Read the tax structure in full before relying on it.
Schengen access is gone.
The one fact most Vanuatu pages bury: the European Union revoked Vanuatu’s Schengen visa-free access in December 2024, and the UK now requires a Standard Visitor visa. The honest current reach is 87 destinations, approximately #57, weighted to the Asia-Pacific corridor. If frequent Europe access is central to your plan, Vanuatu is not the right tool, and you should know that before you spend $145,000. The full explanation is on the Schengen access page.
The honest answers.
How do you get Vanuatu citizenship?
Through citizenship by investment under Cap. 112: a government-approved contribution via a licensed agent, a source-of-funds and due-diligence package screened by the VFIU, one in-person biometric enrolment, then the Citizenship Commission grants citizenship and the passport is issued. No residency, language test, or interview. A clean file takes 30–60 days.
What's the ballpark cost of Vanuatu citizenship?
About $145,000 all-in for a single applicant on the DSP: a $130,000 government contribution plus flat 5% advisory, due diligence, civil registration, and enrolment. The CIIP route is $174,000 gross, ~$124,000 net after the four-year fund redemption. Full ladder on the cost page.
Does Vanuatu allow dual citizenship?
Yes. You keep your existing nationality. The citizenship is hereditary and permanent under Cap. 112 and passes to your children. Whether your current country permits dual nationality is a separate question for your own jurisdiction.
What are the benefits of Vanuatu citizenship?
Speed (30–60 days), zero personal income tax with zero capital gains and inheritance tax, hereditary and permanent citizenship, 87 destinations at approximately #57, visa-free or visa-on-arrival, weighted to Asia-Pacific, Commonwealth and Pacific Islands Forum membership, and a Bitcoin-native source-of-funds process. The honest trade-off: Schengen access was revoked in December 2024.
Is Vanuatu citizenship legitimate?
Yes. A lawful CBI program under the Citizenship Act, Cap. 112, administered by the Vanuatu Citizenship Commission and screened by the VFIU with INTERPOL checks. Citizenship is granted by the government and the passport issued after; it is not the sale of a passport as a product. cbi.vu works the file through a licensed designated agent of the Government of Vanuatu. The full breakdown, including how to verify an agent and read a quote, is on the legitimacy and buyer-protection page.
Where these facts come from.
We cite the law and the data, not the marketing. Verify any line here before you move a single sat.
- Legal basis
- Citizenship Act (Cap. 112); the Development Support Programme was established under Order No. 215 of 2016 (in force 1 January 2017), with current fees and agent categories set by Order No. 33 of 2019.
- Passport standard
- Vanuatu Passport (Amendment) Act 2025, which introduced the mandatory biometric enrolment: one in-person visit, from May 2025.
- Screening
- Vanuatu Financial Intelligence Unit, with INTERPOL and Vanuatu Citizenship Commission checks on every file.
- Mobility
- Henley Passport Index, 2026: 87 destinations, approximately #57. Schengen visa-free access was revoked in December 2024, effective February 2025; the UK had done the same in July 2023.
- Pricing
- Government contribution and the full fee schedule, canonical to 21cbi.io/programs/vanuatu and itemized on the cost page.
Keep reading.
Vanuatu vs St Kitts
Roughly half the cost and a fraction of the wait. The honest value case against the Caribbean benchmark.
The WorkThree file shapes
Single, couple, family. Composited files that show how a real source-of-funds stitch runs.
MethodSource of funds, on-chain
How a Bitcoin position becomes a file the FIU can clear, with no forced sale.
Read the math, then the application.
The 19-page Vanuatu Brief carries the cost to the line, the source-of-funds playbook, the process, and the honest trade-offs. The brief by email, then five short notes, and it stops. Or book a confidential file-read with Adam, where the first sixty minutes go straight to your file, not a sales script.