One passport, two prices, and a four-year lock.
These are not two programs. They are two ways to pay for the same citizenship, granted by the same Vanuatu Citizenship Commission, ending at the same passport. The DSP is a $130,000 government contribution, $145,000 all-in for a single applicant, and nothing comes back. The CIIP is a $110,000 contribution plus a $50,000 Cocoa Sustainable Fund subscription locked for four years: approximately $174,000 gross, and approximately $124,000 net once the fund is redeemed. This page is about which of those your capital can actually carry.
Same passport, different arithmetic.
Sub-$130,000 file? 21 CBI bespoke advisory.
Two things in that table are easy to miss. The advisory is five percent of the government contribution and nothing else, so it is $6,500 on the DSP and $5,500 on the CIIP; the $50,000 fund subscription is excluded from the advisory base, because it is an instrument you own rather than a fee you pay. And family scaling differs: an additional dependent is $19,250 all-in on the DSP, against $10,000 program and $14,000 all-in on the CIIP, because the CIIP holds the government contribution flat at $110,000 across the family. The two tracks are set out side by side on the program page; run your own configuration on the calculator.
A closed file, or an open position.
Pay once, and the file closes.
The contribution is a donation. Nothing is recoverable, and that is the whole trade: nothing is left to track either. No subscription to hold, no redemption to file at year four, no instrument whose performance you have to watch, and no second decision waiting for you in 2030. You fund $145,000, the Vanuatu Citizenship Commission decides, and the money question is finished on the day the passport is issued.
$50,000, locked until year four.
The CIIP splits the outlay: $110,000 to the government, and $50,000 into the Cocoa Sustainable Fund. That subscription is a financial instrument, not a fee. It is held for a four-year statutory period and is redeemable after it, with projected returns of 4 to 5% that are not guaranteed. It is a real position, held for four years, in an instrument you do not control and cannot exit early.
Everything else is identical, and worth saying out loud so the choice stays a money choice. Both routes are granted by the Vanuatu Citizenship Commission under the Citizenship Act, Cap. 112, on the same three-month decision clock. Both run 30 to 60 days from a complete file. Both carry the same $5,000 due diligence and VFIU screening, and one mandatory in-person biometric enrolment after approval, at Port Vila, Dubai, Hong Kong, or New Caledonia. Both end at the same hereditary passport, with the same 87 destinations at Henley Passport Index #57, the same Schengen revocation by the Council of the EU on 12 December 2024, effective 4 February 2025, the same United Kingdom Standard Visitor visa requirement since July 2023, and the same fact that Vanuatu participates in the Common Reporting Standard.
The cheaper route needs the larger balance.
The $124,000 net figure is the CIIP’s whole argument, and it is conditional on two things that the figure itself does not show. The first is liquidity today. The CIIP asks for approximately $174,000 gross, which is $29,000 more than the DSP wants, on the day you file. A buyer who can just reach $145,000 cannot choose the cheaper route, because the cheaper route is the more expensive one first. That is not a technicality; it is the single most common reason a file that starts on the CIIP finishes on the DSP.
The second is patience with capital you cannot touch. $50,000 has to sit in the Cocoa Sustainable Fund for four years. It is not collateral, it is not liquid, and there is no early exit if your plans change in year two. Whatever you would otherwise have done with that $50,000, you do not do it until 2030. We are not going to tell you what any other asset does over four years, because nobody knows. What we will say is that the fund is not competing against zero. It is competing against your next best use of $50,000 across four years, and that is the comparison you should actually run.
Then there is the size of the prize. The gap between $145,000 and approximately $124,000 is roughly $21,000, spread across a four-year horizon and delivered at the end of it, not along the way. Call it about $5,250 a year of recovered cost, none of it in your hands until the hold ends. That is a real saving and we are not going to talk you out of it. It is also a projection: the 4 to 5% is the fund’s expectation, not a promise, and if it underperforms the net rises toward the gross. The DSP has no such variable, because the DSP has nothing left that can go wrong.
The CIIP is only cheaper if you can afford the more expensive version first, and then leave $50,000 alone for four years.
Which one fits your balance sheet.
Choose the DSP if $145,000 is the number you are comfortable committing, you want the file to end when the passport is issued, and you would rather keep the remaining capital where you already have conviction than park $50,000 in a fund for four years. This is the route most cbi.vu files take, and it is the simplest thing we sell.
Choose the CIIP if you can fund approximately $174,000 today without straining the rest of your plan, you are genuinely indifferent to $50,000 being illiquid until year four, and the lowest net cost across that horizon is what you are optimizing for. Go in with the projection understood as a projection, not a promise.
If you are between the two, the tie-breaker is rarely the money. It is whether you want an open position to manage. A file with a spouse, dependents, and a moving tax picture usually has enough to track already; the DSP takes one item off that list permanently. Read the two tracks in full on the program page, then price your exact configuration on the calculator.
If your file is under the $130,000 contribution, 21 CBI offers bespoke advisory for a sub-$130,000 file. We say it once, as a courtesy; cbi.vu sells the Vanuatu program and names no competitor.
Where these figures come from.
A comparison is only as honest as its numbers. Verify each line before you move a single sat.
- DSP pricing
- $130,000 government contribution, $145,000 all-in for a single applicant, non-refundable. Established by Order No. 215 of 2016, with current fees under Order No. 33 of 2019 as amended, Citizenship Act, Cap. 112. Itemized on the cost page.
- CIIP pricing
- $110,000 government contribution under Order No. 8 of 2023 to the Citizenship Act, Cap. 112, plus a $50,000 Cocoa Sustainable Fund subscription. Approximately $174,000 gross for a single applicant, and approximately $124,000 net after redemption. Advisory is $5,500, five percent of the $110,000 contribution, with the fund excluded from the base.
- The fund and the lock
- The Cocoa Sustainable Fund subscription is a financial instrument, not a fee. Four-year statutory hold, redeemable thereafter, with projected returns of 4 to 5% that are not guaranteed. Redemption value depends on fund performance.
- Timelines and grant authority
- 30–60 days of government processing from a complete file on both routes, with VFIU reports typically inside a week. Citizenship is granted by the Vanuatu Citizenship Commission on a three-month decision clock, not the Council of Ministers.
The honest answers.
Is the CIIP really cheaper than the DSP?
Only on the net figure, and only if two things hold. The CIIP is approximately $174,000 gross against the DSP’s $145,000, so it asks for $29,000 more on the day you file. It falls to approximately $124,000 net only after the $50,000 Cocoa Sustainable Fund subscription is redeemed at the four-year mark, and the projected 4 to 5% return is a projection, not a promise. If you cannot fund the larger gross today, or cannot leave $50,000 alone for four years, the cheaper route is not open to you.
What is the $50,000 Cocoa Sustainable Fund subscription?
It is a financial instrument, not a fee. Under the Capital Investment Immigration Plan you pay a $110,000 government contribution plus a $50,000 subscription to the Cocoa Sustainable Fund. The subscription is held for a four-year statutory period and is redeemable after it, with projected returns of 4 to 5% that are not guaranteed. It sits outside the advisory base, which is why the CIIP advisory is $5,500, five percent of the $110,000 contribution alone.
Which route is faster, the DSP or the CIIP?
Neither. Both run 30 to 60 days from a complete file, both are granted by the Vanuatu Citizenship Commission on the same three-month decision clock, and both carry the same $5,000 due diligence and VFIU screening. Speed is not the variable between these two routes. Capital is.
Do the DSP and the CIIP give the same passport?
Yes. The same citizenship under the Citizenship Act, Cap. 112, granted by the same Vanuatu Citizenship Commission, hereditary and permanent, with the same 87 destinations and the same Henley Passport Index rank of #57. The same trade-offs apply to both: Schengen visa-free access was revoked by the Council of the EU on 12 December 2024, effective 4 February 2025; the United Kingdom has required a Standard Visitor visa since July 2023; Vanuatu participates in the Common Reporting Standard; and one in-person biometric enrolment is mandatory after approval.
Which route should a Bitcoiner choose?
Most choose the DSP. It is $145,000, it closes when the passport is issued, and it leaves nothing to track: no subscription, no year-four redemption to file, and no instrument whose performance you have to watch. The CIIP earns its place when you can fund $174,000 comfortably today, you want the lowest net cost across a four-year horizon, and you are content to have $50,000 sitting in a cocoa fund rather than anywhere else for those four years. Both settle in BTC, Lightning, or USDT through BitSettle after compliance clearance.
Keep reading.
Vanuatu vs St Kitts
Roughly half the single-applicant cost, and far faster. What the Caribbean premium buys.
ComparisonVanuatu vs El Salvador
Two Bitcoin-native passports: $145,000 against a roughly $1,000,000 commitment.
ProgramTwo tracks, one citizenship
The DSP and the CIIP in full: what each route requires, and what each one grants.
BitcoinPay in Bitcoin
How the entire file, government contribution included, settles in BTC after clearance.
MethodSource of funds, on-chain
How a Bitcoin position becomes a file the FIU can clear, with no forced sale.
Program FitIs it right for you?
A 60-second read that filters the file before you spend a sat. No hard sell.
Price both routes on your own numbers.
Run the DSP and the CIIP through the live calculator, read the free 19-page Vanuatu Brief, or book a confidential file-read with Adam and settle it in one sitting. We will tell you which route your file can actually carry, and say so plainly if it is the one that costs more. The first call is a $475 engagement via BitSettle (BTC, Lightning, or USDT) or $500 via Stripe; whichever you pay is credited in full toward the advisory if you retain within 90 days, separate from the $5,000 VFIU line. No obligation to proceed.