Vanuatu citizenship by investment: costs, route & status

What are Vanuatu's four investment routes?

The final citizenship step happens in a Vanuatu courtroom. The Citizenship Office's process ends with an oath sworn in person at a court in Vanuatu. What comes before that day, and what it costs, depends on the route. ¹

The Office lists eight categories of citizenship, and four are for investors: the Capital Investment Immigration Plan (Form D, also called the CIIP), Honorary Citizenship under the Development Support Program (DSP), the Vanuatu Contribution Program (VCP) and the Real Estate Option Program (REO). All four sit under the Citizenship Act, Cap 112, in force since 1980 and amended in 2013, twice in 2014 and most recently in 2021. ^{6, 7, 8}

The REO is the property route. Applicants buy into a government-approved project. The program's 2021 commencement notice lists four: Pacific Springs at Rentabao, Narpow Point Coral Bay and the FPF Rainbow City Project at Narpow Point, all on Efate, and Milai on Espiritu Santo. ¹⁰

Article 73 of Vanuatu's Constitution gives all land to its Indigenous custom owners and their descendants. Article 75 keeps perpetual ownership for Indigenous citizens who acquired their land under a recognised system of land tenure. Ask what interest an REO project sells, and for how long, before signing. ¹⁴

A contribution and a property purchase carry different risks. The contribution is a price set by regulation. The property brings a developer and a sales contract with it, so it needs its own documents and its own review, kept apart from the citizenship file. ⁹

What does Vanuatu citizenship cost?

The Citizenship Office publishes two fee schedules. Its general table prices households from USD 130,000 for one person and adds a USD 5,000 diligence fee for the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), which checks DSP, Form D and VCP applicants. Form D has a schedule of its own. The fee page names no route for the general table, so before paying for the DSP, VCP or REO, get the Office's written word on which schedule applies. ^{2, 15}

A government fee is one line of a larger bill. Agent and professional fees sit outside the government's table. So do translations and document costs, flights to Vanuatu for the oath, and the passport itself. Price each of those in writing before comparing totals. ^{2, 1}

When did Vanuatu lose visa-free travel to Europe?

A Vanuatu passport needs a Schengen visa. Regulation (EU) 2025/11 moved Vanuatu from the EU's visa-exempt list to its visa-required list. The Council decided on 12 December 2024. The Regulation appeared in the Official Journal on 14 January 2025 and entered into force on 3 February 2025. ⁴

The move is open-ended, a change of list. It closed a run of suspensions that began in March 2022, and the last of them ran to 3 February 2025, the same day the new rule took effect. For anyone weighing citizenship for visa-free trips to Europe, that benefit belongs to the years between 2015 and the 2022 suspensions. ⁴

Vanuatu's own Department of Immigration and Passport Services described the step that took effect in February 2023 as a full suspension of visa-free access, linked by the EU to the country's investor citizenship scheme. ¹⁷

Do you need a visa for the UK or the US?

The UK lists Vanuatu as a visa national. On 13 September 2026, Vanuatu was on the Home Office's visa-national list, so a UK visit on a Vanuatu passport starts with a visa application. ⁵

A Standard Visitor can come for tourism, business, study on courses of up to 6 months and other permitted activities. ¹⁸

The United States list

On 13 September 2026, Vanuatu was on neither list in Presidential Proclamation 10998 of December 2025, full or partial, and was absent from the earlier Proclamation 10949 too. The proclamation restricts entry for nationals of the countries it lists, Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda among them; the Dominica guide covers one of those countries' programs. The ordinary US visa rules apply to everyone else. ¹⁹

Build the cost from payment events

The largest payment comes after approval. The application fee is paid when the application is lodged. The citizenship fee falls due once the Citizenship Commission approves, inside the 3 months the applicant has to swear the oath. ^{2, 1}

The citizenship fee follows approval, so a refusal comes before the largest transfer. Read every quote as a set of transfers, each with a recipient and a date, and ask what happens to each one if the application stops. MMT's guide to the real cost of citizenship by investment sets out the wider bill.

Do you need to travel to Vanuatu?

Yes, for the oath. It is sworn at a court in Vanuatu. An applicant based on Santo can use the court in Luganville, and applicants who live in another country travel to Vanuatu. ¹

1. 01

   Application and fee

   The application goes in with its fee: VUV 5,000 per application, or USD 250 for Form D. ²

2. 02

   Due diligence

   Vanuatu's Financial Intelligence Unit carries out due-diligence checks for the DSP, Form D and VCP programs. ¹⁵

3. 03

   Commission decision

   One week after the Citizenship Commission meets, the Secretary General of the Citizenship Office sends a letter with its decision. ¹

4. 04

   Oath and citizenship fee

   After approval, the applicant has 3 months to swear the oath and pay the citizenship fee. A written request with a reasonable excuse can add 2 months. After that, the approval lapses and the application starts again. ¹

5. 05

   Passport

   Under the Passports Act 2009, only a Vanuatu citizen can hold a Vanuatu passport, so the passport application comes after citizenship. Normal service takes up to 21 days. ²⁰

During COVID-19 border restrictions, one Office notice accepted oaths by video conference, and another said certificates would go out by video 'until further notice'. The first notice also restates the legal default: the oath is taken in the physical presence of a Commissioner for Oaths. On 13 September 2026, the process page describes the in-person oath. ^{3, 21, 1}

Budget the oath trip as its own line: flights, nights and days away from work. The Vanuatu travel guide is the place to plan it.

What should a family quote contain?

Name every person, their age and the fee line that covers them. The government prices households in fixed tiers, and Form D adds charges by age: USD 19,250 for each extra child under 18 and USD 44,250 for each dependant aged 18 to 21. A single family total hides which tier a quote used. ²

• The route by its legal name, Form D, DSP, VCP or REO, and the regulation behind its price. ^{6, 9}
• Each person's fee line, the schedule it comes from (the general table or Form D) and every child's age. ²
• The USD 5,000 FIU diligence fee and the application fee, set apart from the citizenship fee. ²
• The agent's own fee as its own line, with refund terms in writing.
• Payment in US dollars, the currency the regulations name. ³
• The dates: lodging, the Commission meeting, the 3-month oath window and the passport. ¹
• For the REO, the approved project's name, what interest the purchase gives you and for how long, and a property contract kept separate from the citizenship file. ^{10, 14}

Check the agent against the government's own lists. The Office publishes its designated agents for the DSP, and a directive requires all DSP and VCP agents to 'adhere to Government stipulated pricing' in Orders 33 and 34 of 24 April 2019. REO applications go only through Naika Holdings Limited. ^{12, 9, 13}

When does Vanuatu fit a plan?

Vanuatu fits a plan when all four of these hold. Settle each one before any money moves.

• Your trips to the Schengen area and the UK can go through visa applications. ^{4, 5}
• The applicant can travel to Vanuatu to swear the oath within 3 months of approval. ¹
• For the DSP or the VCP, the Citizenship Office confirms in writing which fee schedule covers the route, and every person in the household fits a line on it. ^{2, 9}
• For the REO, the project is on the Office's current approved list and the purchase goes through the single master agent. ^{10, 13}

Where you live, where you pay tax and what your bank asks for each follow their own rules, and citizenship versus residency sets them apart.

Compare Vanuatu with programs priced for the same household and the same trips. Nauru's program is the other Pacific program MMT covers, and the Caribbean comparison sets five programs side by side.