Documents for Vanuatu citizenship: checklists for every member of the application

Where biometrics are taken

For many families this is the key organisational question. Collection points are limited, and costs differ several times over.

The cost covers biometric capture, the application filing fee and support. It is paid separately for each member of the application, including children. A family of four gives biometrics four times.

The option of giving biometrics in Moscow or St Petersburg removes the main difficulty for families based there: there is no need to take children abroad or fit dates around visas.

If none of these cities suits you, we arrange for an authorised officer of the Vanuatu Immigration Service to visit wherever the family is, in any city in the world. This format is used when the application is large, includes elderly members or small children, or when the applicant’s schedule does not allow a day for travel. Terms and timing are agreed separately for the specific application.

Personal documents

The set starts with identity and civil status documents. Certified copies are filed; the originals stay with you.

Passport. A notarised copy of the photo and personal data page. Any visas, residence permits and marks of previous citizenships are copied too. Validity must cover the whole review period: with less than six months left, the passport is renewed before filing.

The Latin spelling of the name in the passport is the reference for the whole application. Certificates, forms and bank documents reproduce it without discrepancies. A mismatch in a single character is grounds for a request and a delay.

National ID card of the country of citizenship. Part of the mandatory set since July 2025. If the state does not issue such a document, a notarised statement to that effect is provided.

Birth certificate. A certified copy with an apostille and an English translation. For certificates issued before 1991 the authority requests a duplicate: the old form is outdated and raises questions. A duplicate certificate is issued by the civil registry from 10 working days, so the document’s format is checked at the start of collection, not just before filing.

Marriage, divorce and name change certificates. Filed if the spouse is included in the application or if the surname has changed. The chain of name changes must be unbroken: each change is confirmed by a document.

Proof of address. A utility bill, a bank statement showing the address or the residence permit page.

Photographs. Six, passport format on a white background, to the ICAO standard.

Police clearance certificate

The document on which timelines most often slip.

The rule is strict: a certificate is required not only from the country of citizenship but from every state where you lived for more than 12 months in total over the last 10 years. Study, contract work, long residence on a permit: all of these are reasons to request a certificate in that country.

Validity is limited. The certificate is accepted if issued no earlier than three months before filing, in some cases six. This leads to a practical order: certificates are ordered at the end of collecting the set, not at the start. A document obtained first will have expired by filing.

In Russia, for example, the certificate is issued by the Interior Ministry within up to 30 days, followed by an apostille and translation. Allow at least six weeks for this; check the equivalent timing in your own country.

Source of funds

The main part of the check. The Financial Intelligence Unit examines the origin of the money used to pay the contribution and the applicant’s overall financial position.

What is proven:

Existence of capital. Net assets from USD 250,000 must be proven. Proof includes bank statements, property valuation reports and documents of business ownership.

Origin of funds. Statements for all personal and corporate accounts for six months, certified by the bank. Self-printed statements are not accepted: a bank mark with the date of certification is needed.

Nature of income. The set depends on the source: employment contracts and income certificates, documents on the sale of an asset, dividend resolutions, inheritance documents, tax returns.

A bank reference letter on the nature of the relationship with the bank and the client’s reputation.

An application stalls not because of the size of the capital but because of gaps in its history. A large receipt without grounds, the sale of a stake without an agreement, cash income: all of these need explaining. Complex structures come with an explanatory note describing the chain step by step.

Medical certificate and CV

A medical certificate confirming the absence of dangerous infectious diseases. Issued by a licensed doctor and valid for 90 days from the date of issue.

CV. Required for each applicant over 18: education with institutions and years of study, employment with positions and periods, professional licences. The document helps the checker match the background with the declared source of income.

A disclosure statement on refusals. If you were previously refused a visa or citizenship of another country, this is stated. A hidden fact found during the check weighs much more than one disclosed voluntarily.

Official forms

Forms in the prescribed format are published by the Citizenship Office. The set includes the programme participant form, the passport application, declarations and consents to data checks. They are completed for each adult member.

Forms are signed in the presence of the authorised agent or with a notarised signature, depending on the document.

Checklists by member of the application

The sets differ. Below is what each member prepares.

For adult children, dependency is also proven: a certificate of full-time study, proof of tuition payments and absence of independent income. For parents, proof of kinship and financial dependency on the applicant.

Certification, translation, apostille

Each document goes through three steps, and the order matters.

First, notarisation of the copy. Then an apostille on a document issued by a state body: certificates, the police clearance, court decisions. Then translation into English by an accredited translator. The apostille is translated together with the document.

An apostille is not needed for bank statements, employment contracts, photographs or the application forms themselves. It is needed for civil status records and documents of law enforcement and judicial bodies.

The reverse order, translation first and apostille second, means redoing the work: the apostille goes on the original document, not on its translation.

Document validity

Hence the collection rule: documents with limited validity are ordered last. First come those that do not expire: certificates, translations and apostilles on permanent documents.

Where mistakes are made most often

The police certificate was ordered first. By filing its three-month validity has run out and it is requested again. The timeline slips by a month.

Inconsistent transliteration. One spelling in the passport, another in bank documents. The authority sends a request and the set goes back for rework.

A country of residence was missed. The applicant studied abroad for two years and did not attach a certificate from there. The check establishes this, and the certificate has to be obtained urgently.

A self-printed statement. Only a bank-certified statement, with a stamp and date, is accepted.

An old-format certificate. A document from the 1970s or 1980s is returned, and a duplicate in the current format is required.

The apostille was added after translation. The reverse order is required, and the work is redone.

In what order to collect

A sequence that saves time:

What has changed in the document requirements

Two changes affect how an application is planned. They are worth taking into account before you start collecting certificates.

Biometrics in person. Since 1 July 2025 every applicant included in the application gives fingerprints and a photograph in the presence of an officer. Remote capture is not provided for, and a representative cannot be sent. It takes 30-60 minutes per person and happens after the application is approved, before the passport is issued.

Two new documents. Since 18 July 2025 the set includes a Vanuatu National Identity Card and a Vanuatu-format birth certificate. Without them the application is not accepted. The documents are issued during the review of the application, at USD 1,000 per person.

Paper applications have not been accepted since 31 August 2024: filing is digital only, through an authorised agent.

Documents and the choice of programme: DSP or the CIIP fund

In brief: the document package is the same for the DSP and the CIIP fund; the payment documents differ. The FIU check fee is paid once per application: $5,000 under the DSP and $8,000 under the fund.

Under the DSP the contribution is paid after approval on a treasury invoice, so source-of-funds documents are needed at the start and payment documents are prepared later. Under the CIIP fund the $157,000 contribution is paid after approval through a Vanuatu bank, and for this payment the main applicant also prepares an asset report in US dollars, a 6-month bank statement and a recent proof of address.

For the CIIP fund a separate form is completed for each member: the main applicant, the spouse, each child under 18 and dependants. Only the main applicant files the asset report. How to choose a programme by family size is covered in DSP or the CIIP fund, and all budget items in the cost of Vanuatu citizenship.

Related: a review of Vanuatu citizenship by investment, timelines by stage, applying with a record or after a refusal, Vanuatu citizenship for the whole family, apostille of Vanuatu documents, case: a mother over 50 in the application.

How we prepare the applicant’s documents

We draw up a personal document list for your family and source of income: there is no universal list, and the set depends on where you have lived and how the capital was obtained. Before ordering certificates with limited validity, we check that the application can pass at all, so that you do not pay a non-refundable fee from an obviously weak position.

We take care of biometrics: appointments in Moscow and St Petersburg and, where needed, a visit by an authorised officer of the Vanuatu Immigration Service to wherever the family is.

Programme conditions and a full calculation for your family are on Vanuatu citizenship by investment. The process is described in how to get Vanuatu citizenship, the applicant check in due diligence, and costs in how much Vanuatu citizenship costs.