How to Apply for Vanuatu Citizenship

A Vanuatu citizenship application under the Development Support Program (DSP) is lodged through a government-designated agent, not posted to the Citizenship Office by the applicant. The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) checks the applicant and family first; the Citizenship Office reviews the file against its checklist; the Internal Screening Committee passes it on; and the Citizenship Commission makes the decision. A quarter of the government fee prescribed in the DSP Regulations has to be paid before the Commission takes up the file, and it is kept if the application is refused; the rest is due before the citizenship certificate is issued.

Vanuatu CBI is an independent advisory team. We are not the Citizenship Office, the Commission or a designated agent, and this is not a government website. The government's own source is the Vanuatu Citizenship Office and Commission website. Our role is to run the application with you: we assess eligibility and cost free of charge, prepare every document, and the file is lodged through a government-designated agent, as Vanuatu law requires.

Who Handles a Vanuatu Citizenship Application

Many guides describe a single "citizenship unit" that handles everything from payment to passport. In Vanuatu the work is split between several bodies, and knowing which one does what helps you spot offers that do not add up. Vanuatu's published sources name a Citizenship Office and a Citizenship Commission; you will not find a "Citizenship by Investment Unit" among them.

The legal basis for the DSP is section 13E of the Citizenship Act [Cap 112] and the Citizenship (Development Support Program) Regulations Order No. 33 of 2019, as amended by Order No. 39 of 2020. The procedure described below follows those Regulations and the Office's published application steps.

The Application Process in Seven Stages

1. Consultation and eligibility check

Every file starts with a consultation. Before anyone pays a government fee, we look at the three issues that decide most DSP applications: whether anyone in the family has a criminal record, whether the money can be traced to a lawful source, and which relatives meet the dependant definitions. You receive the full cost for your family in writing, including our own fee.

2. Building the document file

Each application form comes with a checklist, and the Office can return a file that does not match it. We give you a written list for your family, order police certificates in the right sequence, arrange certified translations and apostilles, and assemble the source-of-funds evidence. Our guide to the conditions of the program sets out the documents each family member has to gather.

3. Lodging and FIU due diligence

Next, the agent asks the FIU to screen the main applicant and each relative named in the file, handing over the passport, the police or judicial clearance and any further papers the checks call for. A VT 5,000 application fee is paid on lodging, and a single US$5,000 due diligence fee covers the whole application. We prepare the background and source-of-funds material before this stage, so that the checks run on a complete file.

4. Checklist review at the Citizenship Office

With the checks done, the agent files the application at the Citizenship Office, and officers compare it item by item with the DSP checklist. A missing or out-of-date document sends the file back to the agent to be completed. We check the file line by line before it is submitted.

5. Part-payment and the Commission's decision

The Commission may not consider a DSP application until 25% of the prescribed government fee has been paid into the DSP account at the National Bank of Vanuatu. Paying the entire fee in one transfer is also permitted. The Screening Committee then sends the file on to the Commission, and an approval in principle must reach the agent within 48 hours of the meeting's decision.

6. Oath, balance of the fee and certificate

Approval starts a 3-month clock for the oath of allegiance and the rest of the fee. You can ask the Secretary General in writing for 2 extra months if you have a good reason and ask before the clock runs out; if neither step is completed in time, the approval lapses and you would have to apply again. The oath is taken before a Commissioner for Oaths. A Citizenship Office notice of August 2020 allowed it by video link until further notice, and that notice has not been withdrawn; the designated agent confirms which arrangement is accepted for your file. The certificate fee is VT 10,000 per certificate, and once the fee is fully paid, the Regulations allow 90 days from approval for the certificate to be issued.

7. Passport application

With the certificate in hand, each family member applies for a passport through the Immigration and Passport Services. Biometrics are taken in person. We prepare the passport forms and confirm where the biometrics can be given.

Payments and When They Fall Due

Government payments are made in US dollars, apart from the vatu fees, and only to official government accounts. The government does not accept cryptocurrency. A request to pay the contribution into a private or company account is a warning sign in itself.

The US$130,000 figure is the minimum program price for a single applicant. The government fee on which the 25% is calculated is prescribed separately in the Regulations. Prices for couples and larger families are set out in our breakdown of what Vanuatu citizenship costs. Before any transfer, we confirm in writing the exact amount, the account and the date for each payment in your file.

The Vanuatu Citizenship Application Form

Searches for "the Vanuatu citizenship application form" usually end at a PDF that cannot be used. The Citizenship Office states that true copies of its forms are provided only by the Office, and that the files on its application forms page are for reading, not for filing. A form may be collected by the applicant or by the applicant's recognized consultant; anyone else needs the applicant's written or other reasonable consent given to the Office.

The public downloads are:

• Form A: naturalization after long residence;
• Form B: a non-citizen married to a Vanuatu citizen;
• Form C(a): entitlement through family ties;
• Form C(b): regaining citizenship;
• Form D: the Capital Investment Immigration Plan under section 13C, so not a DSP form (the CIIP 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, so we confirm its status at the assessment);
• the Real Estate Option form.

The Office lists the DSP route as "Honorary Citizenship under Vanuatu Development Support Program", and no form for it appears among these files. For a DSP file, the designated agent obtains the correct form and we complete it with you.

Is There an Interview or a Test?

The Office's published procedure does not include an interview for DSP applicants. The written Bislama test on general knowledge of Vanuatu applies only to naturalization and marriage applications (Forms A and B). What you should expect instead are written questions: the FIU or its international firm may ask for further documents or explanations, and the Office may ask for a missing item. How quickly and how consistently those questions are answered matters more than any meeting.

You do not have to live in Vanuatu under the DSP, but you cannot do everything remotely: your fingerprints and photograph for the passport are taken in person. You swear the oath of allegiance in front of a Commissioner for Oaths; a Citizenship Office notice of August 2020 allowed it by video link until further notice, and that notice has not been withdrawn, and the designated agent confirms which arrangement is accepted for your file. Before you commit, we find out how each of these is being arranged at the time.

Contacting the Citizenship Office and Checking an Agent

Official information comes from one place: the Vanuatu Citizenship Office and Commission at vancitizenship.gov.vu. Two pages there are worth reading before you sign anything: the list of designated agents and a list of individuals and companies that are not recognized as designated agents. The Commission can also cancel an agent's designation, so an agent's status should be checked when you start, not only from an old certificate. If you want to verify an agent or confirm a piece of official information directly, the Office publishes its telephone number, (+678) 33365.

A designated agent and an independent adviser do different jobs, and it helps to know which one you are paying for. We explain what an adviser does that the agent does not, and how to check both.

Simple checks protect most applicants: the contribution goes only to the DSP account at the National Bank of Vanuatu; nobody can promise approval or a fixed date, because the decision belongs to the Commission; and an offer of a diplomatic passport has nothing to do with the citizenship process. Diplomatic passports are handled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Citizenship Office has stated publicly that it does not issue any type of passport.

What We Do in Your Application

We assist you through the whole application, from the first consultation to the passport. In practice that means:

• a free assessment of eligibility, family composition and the full cost, in writing;
• a document plan with deadlines, so that police certificates and translations are current on the lodging date;
• preparing the form, the source-of-funds file and the supporting evidence for each family member;
• lodging through a government-designated agent and handling FIU and Office questions with you;
• a payment plan in US dollars through official channels, timed to the stage of the file;
• arranging the oath, tracking the certificate and preparing the passport applications.

No official processing time is published for the DSP, but several deadlines are fixed by law; we set out which stages vary and which time limits are written into the rules.

The first step costs nothing. Ask for a free assessment and we come back in writing with whether your family qualifies, which documents each person needs, the government amounts and our fee, and the order in which payments fall due, all before anything is paid. Everything you tell us is kept confidential and used only to work on your file.