Vanuatu Government has made important changes to the citizenship by investment program regulations for 2020.
The new changes implementing the citizenship amendment regulations for two programs (DSP/VCP) was signed by Prime Minister on 27 March 2020 and new rules apply from this date.
The Citizenship Regulation Order 38 and 39 contains the important changes, which include
1. An internationally reputable global due diligence firm will be engaged for citizenship and visa due diligence checks by Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU)
2. Prices for FIU diligence checks will increase to US$5000 (from $2000)
3. Agents much achieve a minimum of 12 applications per year (DSP agents only)
4.  Due to the COVID-19 crisis Vanuatu accepts citizenship applications electronically can be sent by email.
5. Police clearance certificate, passport and other important documents will be requested by FIU or due diligence firm for processing of applications.
6. FIU will now take 96 hours to complete due diligence checks, instead of 48 hours
Vanuatu Citizenship Unit now accepts applications electronically. This is in line with caribbean programs switching to online filing of applications instead of hard copies.
New Application forms are now available for download at the Vanuatu citizenship office website. You can download the amended citizenship act below
Amendments to Citizenship (Development Support Program) Order 39 of 2020
Amendments to Citizenship (Contribution Program) Order 38 of 2020
The director of Financial Intelligence Unit, Floyd Mera, confirmed to Daily Post, that the changes are made based on recommendations to facilitate transparency and accountability.
Mr Mera says the FIU is tightening its due diligence checks to ensure proper checks in other jurisdictions such as the European Union.
The FIU head further said the increase in fee is to meet costs of the service provider during the due diligence check process. In 2019, the Vanuatu government implemented citizenship regulations removing honorary citizenship terminology in citizenship certificates issued under DSP/VCP schemes.
The Vanuatu DSP/VCP programs remains the most popular passport scheme and important revenue earner for Vanuatu. These schemes raised excess of $200 million in revenues for the pacific country. This month another pacific country Solomon islands announced plans to open a new citizenship by investment program similar to Vanuatu. Samoa also has a citizenship for investment scheme but the scheme is remains unpopular and not widely promoted.
