Vanuatu Citizenship for Crypto Investors

Our Vanuatu Citizenship for Crypto Investors service provides a streamlined pathway for digital asset holders to obtain second citizenship through approved investment programs. There is no separate "Vanuatu crypto passport": crypto investors apply under the Development Support Program (DSP) like everyone else and receive the ordinary Vanuatu passport. The government accepts payment only in US dollars, so digital assets are converted before any government amount is paid, and the conversion is documented for the due diligence checks.

This page is about citizenship for people whose wealth is held in crypto, not about licensing a crypto business in Vanuatu. We prepare the application with you, build the source-of-funds file for your digital assets and stay with you to the passport; the application is lodged through a government-designated agent, as Vanuatu law requires.

What the Government Accepts, in Its Own Words

The Citizenship Office and Commission has published a notice on payments under its programs. It states that it "does not recognize and will not accept any payments made under these three Programs by Bitcoin or Cryptocurrency", and that the only currency recognized legally and stated in the Regulations made under the Citizenship Act [Cap 112] is the US dollar. The three programs named are the Citizenship Contribution Program, the Honorary Citizenship Development Support Program and the Citizenship Real Estate Option Program. You can read the notice on the Citizenship Office website.

The DSP Regulations point the same way from another angle. Under clause 6(4)(a), a payment counts once it is deposited in the DSP account with the National Bank of Vanuatu. Whatever form your wealth takes beforehand, what reaches the government is US dollars in that account.

What "Crypto Passport" Means in Practice

The phrase is a marketing label. It describes funding Vanuatu citizenship with money that comes from digital assets. It does not describe a separate program, a special passport or a faster route. The citizenship granted is the same, the passport is the same green Vanuatu passport issued by the Immigration and Passport Services, and the checks are the same; if anything, the source-of-funds part of the file needs more care.

Three things change when your wealth is in crypto: how the money is converted, how its origin is evidenced, and how the timing of conversion is planned against the payment schedule. The rest of this page deals with each.

Three Questions the Checks Ask About Crypto Wealth

The designated agent applies to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) for due diligence, and since the 2020 amendment to the Regulations the FIU works with an international due diligence firm. For an applicant whose funds come from digital assets, the review comes down to three questions, and the file has to answer each of them on paper.

1. How was the wealth first created?

Every holding starts somewhere: a salary or business income used to buy coins, mining or validator rewards, tokens received for work, or gains on earlier trades. The first task is to show that starting point with ordinary records, such as bank transfers to an exchange, employment or service contracts, or invoices for mining equipment.

2. Is the path from then to now unbroken?

Between the first purchase and today's balance there may be several exchanges, wallets and swaps. Exchange exports, on-chain transaction histories and wallet addresses let a reviewer follow the assets across those steps. Where the trail passes through a closed exchange, old account data can often still be requested, and the blockchain itself links the wallets to the transactions you describe.

3. Where, and in whose name, was it converted?

Because the government accepts US dollars only, every crypto-funded application has a conversion step, and that step is part of the evidence. The cleanest trail runs from a regulated exchange or service with full records to a bank account held in your own name. If you are considering any other arrangement, ask the designated agent whether it can receive and convert funds, and get its process in writing. Either way, the records of the sale and of the incoming dollar transfer go into the file, and the payment then reaches the DSP account at the National Bank of Vanuatu in the stages the Regulations set.

Gaps That Slow a Crypto-Funded File, and How They Are Closed

A gap is rarely fatal on its own, but it has to be explained before the file is lodged rather than after the reviewers find it. Where a gap cannot be closed, we say so plainly and plan around it. Our guide to how the FIU background checks work explains the wider review that every applicant goes through.

Every applicant also needs a clean record. The DSP Regulations state that the Commission cannot approve a person who has had a criminal conviction, so this is settled at the assessment, before any fee is paid.

Four Common Profiles and What Each Needs

Digital-asset wealth is built in different ways, and the evidence that works depends on how yours was built. Typical situations include:

• Early holders. Coins bought years ago, sometimes on exchanges that no longer exist. The key records are the bank transfers that funded the first purchases, any surviving exchange exports, and wallet histories that connect those purchases to today's holdings.
• Miners and validators. Income earned rather than bought. Useful evidence includes equipment invoices, hosting or electricity contracts, pool payout records, validator reward histories and the tax returns that reported the income.
• Founders and employees paid in tokens. Here the employment or service agreements, token allocation and vesting documents, company records and the payroll or invoicing trail matter as much as the wallet itself.
• Active traders. The challenge is volume. Exchange trade histories, profit and loss reports and the tax filings that declared gains usually carry the explanation, with the original capital traced to its source.

Most people fall into more than one profile. We build one coherent account that covers all of them, so that the due diligence reviewers read a single story rather than a pile of unconnected statements.

Timing the Conversion Against the Payment Schedule

Crypto prices move; government amounts do not. The payments come in a fixed sequence: the US$5,000 FIU fee as the checks begin, the VT 5,000 application fee at lodging, a quarter of the prescribed government fee before the Commission takes up the file, and the remainder before the certificate. Settling the whole fee at the start is also allowed. After approval there are three months to take the oath and complete payment, extendable by two months on a reasoned written request.

Because the advance is not refunded if the application is refused, and the balance must be ready within the post-approval window, many applicants convert each amount ahead of its due date rather than relying on the market at the last moment. That is your decision, not ours; we make sure you know the dates and amounts early enough to plan it. We list the full schedule of government payments separately, together with what sits outside it, including conversion and transfer charges.

Sales Claims That Do Not Survive a Check

• "Send the contribution in BTC or USDT." No government amount can be paid that way; the Citizenship Office has said so in writing.
• "Crypto wealth is welcomed without questions." Crypto is not a barrier in itself, but it receives the same scrutiny as any other source of funds, and often more.
• "Crypto holders receive a dedicated passport." Every citizen holds the same Vanuatu passport, issued by the Immigration and Passport Services.
• "Visa-free Europe and the UK." Vanuatu citizens have needed a Schengen visa since 4 February 2023, made permanent from 3 February 2025, and a UK visa since 19 July 2023. The passport opens 85 to 88 destinations without a visa in advance, depending on the index; the Henley Passport Index for October 2026 ranks it 60th with 85.
• "Citizenship makes your crypto gains tax-free." Vanuatu levies no personal income tax, but holding its citizenship does not change where you are tax resident. That depends on the rules of the countries where you live and work, and you should take tax advice there.
• "Approval in 60 days, guaranteed." No law sets a deadline for the Commission's decision on a DSP file, and no one can guarantee the outcome.

What It Costs if You Pay From Crypto

The government schedule is the same for every applicant. Under the Citizenship Office's published figures, the DSP has a minimum price of US$130,000 for a single applicant, and each family size has its own higher figure, all listed in the payment schedule linked above. The FIU fee is US$5,000, the application fee VT 5,000 and each citizenship certificate VT 10,000. Conversion costs, our professional fee and document costs come on top and are set out in a written quote.

Who This Service Suits

We work with founders, early holders, traders and people paid in digital assets who want a second citizenship and are prepared to show how their wealth was built. It suits families who can document the history of their holdings, or who are willing to do the work to reconstruct it. It does not suit anyone looking for a way around the checks: we offer no such route, and a file that tries one tends to fail at the point where money has already been spent.

How We Work With You

We start with a free assessment of eligibility and cost, including a first look at the records behind your holdings. If you go ahead, we plan the family application, prepare the civil documents, police certificates, apostilles and certified translations, and build the crypto source-of-funds file. The designated agent lodges the application; we answer the questions raised in due diligence and by the Commission with you, guide each payment in US dollars through official channels, and prepare you for the oath, the certificate and the passport application. The rules of the program itself are set out in our guide to how the DSP works, from its legal basis to the oath.

If your wealth sits in digital assets and you want to know whether it can fund an application, the free assessment is the place to start. We look at the records behind your holdings, the family on the file and the government amounts, and tell you in writing what the file would need before anything is paid.