Does Vanuatu Allow Dual Citizenship?

Yes. Vanuatu does not make you choose between passports: since constitutional changes took effect in 2014, a Vanuatu citizen may hold another nationality, and the Development Support Program (DSP) asks no applicant to renounce one. The real test is your current country. Some states cancel their citizenship automatically when a national voluntarily naturalizes elsewhere, so check that law for every person on the file before you apply.

When a Vanuatu second passport goes wrong, the cause almost never sits in Port Vila. It sits in a nationality law at home that nobody read in time: an automatic loss clause, a permission that had to be requested beforehand, or a report that had to be filed within a deadline. This guide therefore starts with your home country, then turns to Vanuatu's side of the rule, the application itself and what a second citizenship changes once you hold it.

Home-Country Rules at a Glance

Nationality laws differ widely on what happens when a citizen voluntarily becomes a citizen of another state. The examples below show the range. They illustrate the point and are no substitute for checking the law that currently applies to you.

Behind the individual rules, most countries fall into one of three groups:

• Open. Both nationalities are kept without any formality, although some of these states insist that their nationals enter and leave on the home passport.
• Conditional. The first citizenship survives only if permission is obtained in advance or the new one is reported in time. Skipping the step can bring a fine or, in some systems, loss of citizenship.
• Closed. Taking another citizenship by choice ends the first one, often by operation of law and with no letter to tell you it has happened.

Children, people who acquired a nationality at birth and families holding three or more nationalities are often treated differently again. For that reason we look at each nationality held by anyone on the application, not only at the main applicant's.

Vanuatu's Side of the Rule

Citizenship in Vanuatu rests on Chapter 3 of the Constitution and on the Citizenship Act [Cap 112]. Parts of Chapter 3 were changed in 2013, with effect from 2014, and the Citizenship Office describes one of those changes in plain terms on its legislative framework page: "Interestingly, one of those amendments is the recognition of Dual Citizenship by the Republic of Vanuatu." The same page lists, among the later amendments to the Act, provisions on dual citizenship for CIIP (Capital Investment Immigration Plan) investors.

For someone applying under the DSP, this works out as follows:

• Nothing to give up. No renunciation, surrender or declaration about your other nationality forms part of a DSP file.
• Both passports stay in use. You may hold and travel on a Vanuatu passport while keeping the one you already have.
• The same citizenship as anyone else's. The Citizenship Commission issues a certificate, and a DSP citizen applies for a passport on the same footing as other citizens. Public office is a separate matter under the Constitution, so anyone with political plans in Vanuatu should have those provisions reviewed on their own.
• A way back for former citizens. A person who once renounced Vanuatu citizenship may ask to have it restored. That case has its own legal basis, section 18 of the Act, and its own application, Form C(b).

Applying Without Risking Your First Passport

No form called "dual citizenship" exists. You apply for Vanuatu citizenship and simply keep the nationality you hold. Without family ties or years of residence in Vanuatu, the practical route is the DSP, created under section 13E of the Citizenship Act. Two forms are easily confused with it: Form A is naturalization after 10 years of residence, and Form D belongs to the CIIP, which was suspended in March 2025; industry sources report it reopened in May 2025 under amended rules, but no official notice confirming the current terms has been published. The order we work in puts the home-country question first:

1. Nationality check, then the free assessment. Person by person, we confirm whether the current citizenship survives and whether a permit or notice is needed. Only then do we assess eligibility and set out the full cost.
2. Home-country steps before lodging. Where prior permission is required, it is sought before the Vanuatu file goes in. In a system like Austria's, the retention permit has to be granted before the other nationality is acquired.
3. The document pack. Passports, civil records, police certificates and evidence of the source of funds, with certified translations and apostilles.
4. Lodging. The file is lodged through a government-designated agent, as Vanuatu law requires, with the VT 5,000 application fee and the US$5,000 Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) due diligence fee.
5. Checks and decision. The FIU runs its checks with an international due diligence firm, the Citizenship Office and the Screening Committee review the file, and the Citizenship Commission decides. A quarter of the prescribed government fee has to be paid before the Commission takes up the file, and the government keeps that part if the answer is no.
6. Balance, oath, certificate, passport. The remaining fee goes to the government in US dollars, through official channels, ahead of the certificate, unless you paid in full at the outset. The oath of allegiance is sworn before a Commissioner for Oaths, the Commission issues the certificate, and each family member then applies to the Immigration and Passport Services for a passport.

The DSP's minimum program price is US$130,000 for a single applicant, and that figure is not the government fee on its own. Our page on the stage-by-stage route from lodging to the Commission's decision shows what falls due at each point. Who qualifies in the first place, and what rules an applicant out, is covered in our guide to eligibility and the documents every applicant needs.

Living With a Vanuatu Second Passport

A second citizenship changes less in daily life than many people expect. Four points come up most often.

Picking the passport for each trip. The Vanuatu passport reaches 85 to 88 destinations without a visa arranged in advance, depending on the index: the Henley Passport Index for October 2026 counts 85 and ranks it 60th. Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Russia are on the list. A visa is needed for the Schengen Area (since 4 February 2023) and the United Kingdom (since 19 July 2023), so next to a European or North American passport the Vanuatu one is a complement, not a replacement. We weigh the wider advantages and limits of a Vanuatu passport in a separate guide, and our comparison with the Eastern Caribbean passports shows where the two options part ways.

Going home. Many states require their own nationals to cross the border on the home passport and, while on their territory, treat them purely as nationals. A second citizenship does not usually give you any extra standing in dealings with your own state.

Tax. In most countries, where you pay tax follows where you live, not which passports you hold. The United States is the notable exception, taxing its citizens wherever they are. Becoming a Vanuatu citizen neither makes you tax resident in Vanuatu nor ends your obligations anywhere else.

Children born later. Under clause 8(5) of the DSP Regulation, a child born after the grant is a Vanuatu citizen, and the Regulation sets a passport fee of VT 10,000 for that child. Whether the child also takes your other nationality is for that country's law to decide.

When Another Route Fits Better

The Citizenship Act provides other routes. Each is lawful, but each is built for people with a real connection to the country:

• Marriage to a citizen (Form B): a legal marriage, at least two years of living in Vanuatu before the application, and a written Bislama test.
• Naturalization (Form A): at least 10 years of continuous residence.
• Entitlement (Form C(a)): for people with a ni-Vanuatu or naturalized parent or grandparent.

For someone living abroad who wants a second nationality without moving, none of them is practical, which is why this guide describes the DSP.

Points We Settle Before Anything Is Lodged

• Whether each family member's present nationality survives a voluntary second citizenship, whether a permit or notice is required, and by when.
• Whether anyone on the application has a criminal conviction: the DSP Regulation does not allow the Commission to approve such an applicant.
• Whether the money can be traced and documented to the standard the FIU applies.
• Whether the passport actually serves your travel, particularly if Europe or the UK is a regular destination.

Planning a Dual-Citizenship Application With Us

Keeping the passport you already hold is the starting condition of every dual-citizenship file we take on. The free assessment opens with the home-country check and closes with eligibility and the full cost in writing. If you go ahead, we plan who joins the application, assemble and prepare the documents, and handle the process with you; the application is lodged through a government-designated agent, as Vanuatu law requires. From there we remain on the file until every passport is issued: FIU questions, the Commission's decision, each US-dollar payment through official channels, the oath and the certificate. Whatever you tell us is treated as confidential.