The Vanuatu DSP Program Explained

The Vanuatu DSP program, or Development Support Program, grants Vanuatu citizenship in return for a payment of at least US$130,000 for a single applicant, the minimum price in the schedule the Citizenship Office publishes. It rests on section 13E of the Citizenship Act [Cap 112] and its own set of Regulations. Every application is lodged by a government-designated DSP agent, checked by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and decided by the Citizenship Commission. It is the main investment route open to new applicants today.

We prepare DSP applications with you and stay with the file from the first assessment to the passport. The application is lodged through a government-designated agent, as Vanuatu law requires; we tell you at the start which agent that is, so you can check the name on the official list.

The Legal Framework in Brief

Three layers of law govern the program. Chapter 3 of the Constitution deals with citizenship and, since amendments in force in 2014, recognizes dual citizenship. The Citizenship Act [Cap 112] lists each route to citizenship and gives the Citizenship Commission, a constitutional body, the power to grant it. The Citizenship (Development Support Program) Regulations, Order No. 33 of 2019 as amended by Order No. 39 of 2020, then fill in the detail: the price, the prescribed fees, who may be included, what the agent must collect and in what order the money is paid. The Office publishes all three on its legislative framework page.

In the Office's own list of citizenship types, the DSP appears as "Honorary Citizenship under Vanuatu Development Support Program". That label sometimes confuses applicants, but it describes the same investment route, and the citizenship granted is full citizenship with a certificate and the right to a passport.

What a Vanuatu DSP Agent Does

An applicant cannot lodge a DSP application alone. The Regulations require it to come through an agent designated by the Citizenship Commission. A designated agent must be a Vanuatu citizen with a main registered office in Port Vila, and carries specific duties:

• applying to the FIU for due diligence and supplying the documents the Regulations name, among them the applicant's passport and a police or judicial record certificate;
• lodging the application with the Citizenship Office once the checks are complete, together with the application fee;
• receiving notice of an approval in principle, which the Office must send within 48 hours of the Commission's decision.

Once due diligence is done, the applicant normally stays with the same agent. The Regulations allow a change only if that agent has not progressed the application within a reasonable period, which may not exceed six months. Choosing the agent carefully at the start therefore matters more than it might seem. Our guide on how to verify a Vanuatu citizenship agent explains the official lists and the checks we recommend.

Who Qualifies for the DSP

The program has no residence requirement, no language test and no minimum period of time spent in Vanuatu; the Bislama test on the Citizenship Office's process page applies only to naturalization and marriage applications. What it does require is set out in the Regulations and in the FIU's procedure:

• No criminal conviction. Clause 6(9) states that the Commission cannot approve the application of a person who has had a criminal conviction. This is the first thing we ask about.
• A clear source of funds. The money must be traceable to a lawful origin on paper, and the due diligence follows it.
• Restricted countries. Applicants from a country treated as restricted can be accepted only if they have not lived there for the last five years and hold permanent residence elsewhere (clause 6(8)). The Regulation neither defines restricted countries nor publishes a list of them, so we check this at the assessment.
• Documents to the FIU's standard. Since January 2025 the FIU's procedure asks for a notarized CV, a passport with more than six months of validity and a government payment receipt (the agent confirms which payment), alongside the police or judicial certificate.

Family Members on a DSP Application

A single DSP application can cover the main applicant's spouse and children under 18. It can also cover sons and daughters of the applicant or spouse aged 18 to 25 who are in full-time education and either live with or depend on the applicant, and parents of the applicant or spouse who are over 50 and both live with and depend on them. Each person is checked and each changes the price. We set out the tiers and worked examples on a separate page showing how the price changes as each family member is added.

How a DSP Application Moves, Stage by Stage

1. Assessment. We review the family, the record of each adult, residence history and the evidence for the funds, and return a written cost and document plan.
2. Preparation. Civil documents, police certificates, apostilles, certified translations and source-of-funds records are collected and checked before anything is filed.
3. FIU due diligence. The designated agent applies to the FIU with the US$5,000 fee. Since the 2020 amendment the FIU works with an international due diligence firm.
4. Lodging. The agent lodges the application with the Citizenship Office with the VT 5,000 fee. The Office checks the file for completeness.
5. Advance payment. A quarter of the prescribed government fee must be in the DSP account before the Commission takes up the file, and the Regulation keeps it if the answer is no. Paying the whole fee at this point is also allowed.
6. Screening Committee and Commission. The file passes to the Internal Screening Committee and then to the Citizenship Commission, which approves, defers or rejects it.
7. Oath and balance. After approval there are three months, extendable by two on a reasoned written request, to take the oath before a Commissioner for Oaths and pay the balance.
8. Certificate and passport. The Regulations provide for the certificate within 90 days of approval once the full fee is paid. The passport is then a separate application to the Immigration and Passport Services.

Neither the Act nor the Regulations set a deadline for the Commission's decision on a DSP file, so a fixed number of weeks promised in advance is an estimate, not a rule. The three-month decision rule in section 13C(3) of the Act applies to the CIIP, not to the DSP.

DSP Fees at a Glance

The prescribed government fee inside the single-applicant price is US$80,000 under clause 7(1), and the 25% advance is worked out on that fee. The full breakdown, including what sits outside the government schedule, is in our line-by-line guide to fees and payment dates.

What the DSP Does Not Give You

A fair decision needs the limits as well as the advantages. Since 4 February 2023 Vanuatu citizens have needed a visa for the Schengen Area, a requirement made permanent from 3 February 2025, and since 19 July 2023 they have needed one for the United Kingdom. The passport still opens 85 to 88 destinations without a visa in advance, depending on the index; the Henley Passport Index for October 2026 places it 60th with 85. Citizenship also does not, by itself, change where you pay tax: tax residence follows the rules of the countries where you live and earn.

The biometric capture for the passport is done in person. 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, so the designated agent confirms which arrangement is accepted for your file when you reach that stage.

The DSP and the Other Investment Routes in the Act

The Citizenship Act has provided for more than one investment route, which is why older guides mix them up:

• Capital Investment Immigration Plan (CIIP, Form D, section 13C): 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 and amounts at the assessment. Our page on the status of the Vanuatu CIIP explains what that means for offers in circulation.
• Vanuatu Contribution Program (section 13D): in the Act, but its current status is not confirmed.
• Real Estate Option Program (section 13F): began on 23 July 2021 and requires buying property in a government-approved project on top of the prescribed fees; whether it is taking applications is checked at assessment.
• Development Support Program (section 13E): open to applications, and the route most families with no prior link to Vanuatu plan around.

If the DSP looks like the right route for you, start with the free assessment. We tell you whether each person in your family qualifies, what the government amounts are for each of them and what our own fee is, in writing, before anything is paid.