Vanuatu or Caribbean Citizenship?

Vanuatu is cheaper to enter, while the Caribbean passports are far stronger for Europe. Vanuatu's Development Support Program (DSP) has a minimum program price of US$130,000 for a single applicant. The five Eastern Caribbean programs (Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, and St Lucia) work to a common minimum of US$200,000 for their donation routes under a 2024 memorandum of agreement, in force from mid-2024, and their passports keep visa-free Schengen access, which Vanuatu's has lost along with visa-free UK entry. Decide by where you travel first and by price second.

Older comparisons, including the one previously on this site, describe a world before 2023: a Vanuatu passport with "130 countries including the UK", Caribbean donations "from US$100,000", and promises of citizenship "in 30 to 60 days". None of that holds today. Below is the comparison as it stands in November 2026, using published sources and stating where figures should be confirmed with the program concerned.

Vanuatu and the Caribbean Side by Side

Cost: What the Headline Figure Covers

The two headline numbers are not built the same way. In Vanuatu, US$130,000 is the minimum price the DSP Regulation allows for one applicant, and it rises with family size; it is not a government fee on its own. In the Caribbean, US$200,000 is the minimum donation the five governments agreed in 2024, and each program then adds its own charges. What sits on top of each figure:

For a single applicant the gap is therefore at least US$70,000 before fees. With dependants it can widen or narrow, because each Caribbean program prices them differently, so always compare totals for your own family. Our page on the full Vanuatu schedule, family size by family size has every figure. For current Caribbean amounts, rely on the official citizenship-by-investment unit of the country concerned; figures under US$200,000 in older articles are out of date, and several programs have revised their charges since 2024.

Travel: Why the Index Gap Is So Wide

Most of the difference is Europe. Each Schengen state counts as a separate destination, so Vanuatu's loss of Schengen access in 2023 cost it a large block of points at once. The EU suspended visa-free travel for all Vanuatu nationals from 4 February 2023, and Regulation (EU) 2025/11 made the visa requirement permanent from 3 February 2025. The Council linked the decision to Vanuatu's investor citizenship schemes.

Vanuatu still holds its own in Asia and the Pacific: Hong Kong allows 90 days, Singapore and Malaysia 30, Fiji 120, and Russia admits Vanuatu citizens without a visa. Interestingly, most Caribbean states are open to Vanuatu passport holders too. Our list showing each destination a Vanuatu passport reaches, with the permitted stay, covers the rest.

UK Access Is Not Uniform in the Caribbean

"All Caribbean passports are visa-free for the UK" is a common error. On 19 July 2023 the United Kingdom added both Vanuatu and Dominica to the visa national list in Appendix Visitor of its Immigration Rules. If the UK matters to you, check the current gov.uk position for the specific Caribbean passport you are considering, not the region as a whole.

Process and Due Diligence

In Vanuatu, the application must be lodged through a government-designated agent appointed by the Citizenship Commission. The FIU carries out due diligence with an international firm. The Citizenship Office and its Screening Committee review the file, and the Citizenship Commission decides. Under the DSP Regulation the Commission cannot approve an applicant with any criminal conviction, which is a stricter rule than many applicants expect. No official DSP processing time is published, so we give no promised date; our guide to what actually decides how long a Vanuatu file takes looks at the stages in practice.

The Caribbean programs also work through licensed agents and run background checks through their own CBI units and external providers. Since 2024 they have tightened due diligence under the same regional cooperation that set the US$200,000 floor. In both regions a thorough, consistent source-of-funds file is what moves an application forward.

Family Rules

Vanuatu's DSP covers a spouse and children under 18. It can also include sons and daughters aged 18 to 25 who live with or depend on the applicant and are in full-time education, and parents of the applicant or spouse who are over 50 and both live with and depend on the applicant. Caribbean programs each define dependants in their own way, with different age limits and conditions for adult children, parents and siblings. If your family is large or includes adult children, compare the dependant rules before the headline price.

Tax and Transparency

Vanuatu levies no personal income tax, as its Foreign Investment Promotion Agency states, but that matters only to people who are tax resident there. Citizenship in either region does not by itself change where you are taxed. One claim from older comparisons needs correcting: Vanuatu does not offer secrecy from tax authorities. Like the Caribbean CBI states, it has committed to the OECD standard for automatic exchange of financial account information. Do not choose either option for banking privacy.

Program Risk

Both regions show that a passport's value can change after you buy it. Vanuatu lost Schengen and UK visa-free access in 2023 because of concerns about its investor programs. The Caribbean programs have faced sustained EU and UK scrutiny of their own. Before you choose, consider not just today's visa list but how exposed each program is to further restrictions. Neither region can promise that today's access will last.

Which Fits Whom

• Choose a Caribbean program if regular visa-free travel to the Schengen Area is a main goal, and check UK access for the specific country.
• Choose Vanuatu if your travel centers on Asia, the Pacific, Russia, Africa or the Caribbean, you want the lower entry price, and you value a minimum price set in regulation with staged payment.
• Either way, confirm that your current country permits a second nationality and take tax advice where you live.

Travel is only part of the decision. Our guide to what Vanuatu citizenship gives beyond travel covers family inclusion, the residence position and the limits.

Our Part in a Caribbean-or-Vanuatu Decision

Our work is on the Vanuatu side, and the assessment starts by asking whether Vanuatu is the right choice at all. If your travel points to Europe, we say so plainly. If it points to the regions Vanuatu covers well, we check eligibility and the full cost, plan the family application and prepare the documents: certified translations, apostilles, police certificates and the source-of-funds record. The application is lodged through a government-designated agent, as Vanuatu law requires; we prepare the file and handle the process with you until the passport is issued, including FIU questions, the Commission's decision, the oath and the certificate. Government amounts are paid in US dollars through official channels at each stage.