Will Europe restore visa-free travel for Vanuatu: what it takes and what I expect

In brief

• Since 3 February 2025 Vanuatu citizens need a Schengen visa: Regulation (EU) 2025/11 moved the country to the visa-required list.
• Only a new regulation can restore visa-free travel: a Commission proposal and the consent of the European Parliament and the EU states. As at 16 October 2026 there is no such proposal.
• Vanuatu is fixing what it was criticised for: payments go directly to the Treasury, checks are stronger, biometrics are taken in person.
• The CBI Index 2026 industry ranking raised Vanuatu to 59 points precisely for these reforms.
• My expectation: the tone in Europe is softening, but we are talking years, not months. Buy the passport today for what it gives now.

How Europe closed visa-free travel

Europe took three years to reach this decision and gave the same reason each time: a citizenship programme without an in-person meeting with the applicant and with insufficient checks. First visa-free travel was suspended for passports issued under the programme, then for all citizens, and in 2025 the visa requirement was fixed by regulation. We covered the figures before and after the decision in the piece on Vanuatu after the EU visa suspension.

What this means for you. Visa-free travel was closed not for selling passports as such, but for how checks were organised. So that is what has to be fixed.

What it takes to restore visa-free travel

Only a new EU regulation can return the country to the visa-free list. It is the same procedure by which visas were introduced: the Commission tables a proposal, and the European Parliament and the Council adopt it. The EU looks at security, irregular migration, relations with the country and whether the reasons for closing visa-free travel have been removed.

The hardest part is the first step. The Commission will table a proposal only when it is confident the programme no longer offers a loophole. That is tested by time: how many refusals, how checks work, whether there are new scandals.

What this means for you. Until there is a Commission proposal, any return dates are guesses. If someone presents them as fact, it is a sales pitch.

What Vanuatu has already done

The 2025-2026 changes follow the list of concerns exactly. Applicant payments now go directly to the Treasury, with standard invoicing. The Citizenship Commission and the Financial Intelligence Unit have strengthened applicant checks and investment verification. Applicants give biometrics in person, for Russians in Moscow; more in the piece on the in-person meeting for a Vanuatu passport.

This has been noticed from outside. The CBI Index 2026 industry ranking raised Vanuatu to 59 points and wrote directly that the reforms show more readiness to respond to longstanding concerns than before. At the same time it fairly left the country 2 out of 10 for freedom of movement: there is no visa-free travel to Europe, and that remains the passport's main drawback.

What this means for you. Vanuatu is doing what it was asked to do. That does not guarantee the return of visa-free travel, but without it a return is impossible.

My expectation

In conversations with European colleagues I hear a calmer tone than two years ago: Vanuatu is treated as a country that is improving rather than as a problem. I stress: nobody has confirmed this publicly, and there are no decisions or proposals. So I present it as an expectation, not as news.

If the reforms hold and there are no new scandals, a conversation about restoring visa-free travel may begin. But the procedure is long: from a Commission proposal to entry into force of a regulation usually takes more than a year, since both the European Parliament and the Council, where all EU states sit, must approve the text. I would not expect visa-free travel before 2028 and would not build a single family plan on it. If I turn out to be wrong in the good direction, I will be glad to be the first to write about it.

Why a Vanuatu passport now

I do not sell Vanuatu to anyone as a Schengen passport. People take it for other reasons: processing in 2-3 months, entry of about $136,000 for one applicant, no income tax in the country itself, and a back-up document for banks and travel to 90-100 destinations without a visa. A child born after processing can also obtain citizenship, and the family is processed as one application, without separate programmes for each member.

And most important for many of our clients: a Vanuatu passport can become the basis for applying for residence in Europe where a Russian passport closes the door today. How this works with Greece is shown on the page Greek residence with a Vanuatu passport and in the analysis of access to Greek residence. A European residence permit gives movement within Schengen without any visa waiver.

There is also a practical detail. A Vanuatu passport gives the right to live in the country but does not oblige you to: there are no residence requirements, and there is a single in-person meeting during processing. The exact amount for your family, including children and parents, is shown by the Vanuatu citizenship estimate.

What this means for you. If visa-free travel returns, it will be a bonus to a passport that already works. If it does not, you lose nothing, because you did not take it for that.

What a Schengen visa means in practice

For a Vanuatu passport holder the lack of visa-free travel means an ordinary Schengen visa: an application at the consulate of the destination country, documents, a fee and waiting for a decision. The electronic travel authorisation the EU is introducing for visa-free countries does not apply to Vanuatu: citizens of a country on the visa list do not need it and it will not help them.

Now look at this through the eyes of our typical client from Russia. With a Russian passport they need a visa, and with a Vanuatu passport they need a visa. Losing visa-free travel changed almost nothing in such a person's travel. Something else changed: a Vanuatu passport can no longer be sold as "Schengen in 2 months", and that is good, because such promises used to mislead people.

There is also a separate question: at which consulate and on which passport to apply if you hold two. There is no general answer; it depends on the destination country and your visa history. We go through this with each client individually.

What this means for you. For a Russian today, a Vanuatu passport is not about Schengen; it is about banks, taxes and a route to European residence.

Mistakes I see among buyers

• They trust old materials. Agent pages promising "visa-free travel to 130 countries, including Schengen" still circulate online. They were written before 2023. If a seller relies on them, they either do not follow the market or are deliberately misleading.
• They pay for a "quick return of visa-free travel". Some intermediaries raise the price, promising the passport will "soon reopen Europe". There can be no such premium: the decision is the EU's, and nobody guarantees it.
• They do not check the agent. Vanuatu keeps a state register of authorised agents. If your intermediary is not on it and does not work through an authorised agent, your money is at risk.
• They expect the passport to change their taxes. Vanuatu citizenship does not change tax residence in Russia. Tax depends on days spent in the country, not on the passport.

What this means for you. A good sign of an honest agent: they are the first to tell you there is no visa-free Schengen.

If visa-free travel returns: what changes and for whom

If the EU ever returns Vanuatu to the visa-free list, it will apply to all citizens of the country, including those who obtained the passport earlier. Documents will not need to be reissued. Travel will require the same electronic travel authorisation as for other visa-free countries.

But I am almost certain a return would come with conditions. In 2025 the EU updated its visa suspension mechanism, and it can now suspend visa-free travel faster, including over citizenship by investment programmes. So even restored visa-free travel would depend on how the programme behaves, and the country would have to keep strict checks.

What this means for you. Restoring visa-free travel will not bring back the old programme. It will lock in the new, strict one, and that is a fair price for access to Europe.

What else to know before applying: Vanuatu citizenship for Russians, what a Vanuatu passport gives, taxes and the Vanuatu passport, Vanuatu citizenship refusals, why I advise not to wait with Vanuatu and Vanuatu in CBI Index 2026.

The United Kingdom is a separate story

Many forget that Schengen and the United Kingdom are two separate decisions. The UK introduced visas for Vanuatu citizens on 19 July 2023, before the EU fixed its own regime. If the EU ever restores visa-free travel, London is not obliged to do the same: it has its own criteria and procedure. And vice versa.

For most of our clients this is not the main question, but if travel to the UK matters to you, keep in mind that restoring visa-free travel to Europe will not solve it automatically.

How to tell news from rumour

A visa-free decision will go through public documents, and they cannot be missed. First comes a Commission proposal to amend the visa regulation. Then discussion in the European Parliament and the Council. Finally, publication of the regulation in the EU Official Journal with a date of entry into force.

If you are told "visa-free travel is already agreed" or "it has been settled in Brussels", ask for the document number. No number, no decision. We follow these documents and will write to clients on the day the first of them appears.

What this means for you. News about visa-free travel always comes with a document number. Everything else is talk.

My conclusion

Vanuatu is on the right road, and I am glad to see it. But restoring visa-free travel is a decision for Brussels, not Port Vila, and it is still a long way off. Buy the passport for what it gives today, and do not believe those who name an exact date for the return of Schengen. When the first official document appears, we will analyse it the same day and explain what it means for your family.

How this piece was prepared

This piece is based on 2022 Council of the EU decisions, Regulation (EU) 2025/11, the UK government notice on the visa requirement, the CBI Index 2026 report and our practice in supporting Vanuatu applicants. The "My expectation" section is the author's personal assessment and is not confirmed by public decisions. It is not legal advice.