How Much Vanuatu Earns from One Passport

The contribution under Vanuatu's programme is USD 130,000 for a single applicant. The figure appears on every website, and almost nobody explains where it goes. Yet breaking the payment down answers two practical questions: how much the state really receives, and why the price does not fall however many agents appear on the market.

We compared the programmes' official revenue from the Reserve Bank of Vanuatu's reporting with the number of passports issued and arrived at a figure that appears in no report: how much money stays with the state per document. What follows is what that means for an applicant.

In short: how much stays with the state

• Of the USD 130,000 contribution, the state retains around USD 80,000.
• The rest is the licensed agents' remuneration and the mandatory fees.
• Based on actual revenue, each passport issued accounts for about VT 5.1-5.2 million.
• That is an average of roughly USD 42,000-43,000 collected per person.
• The difference is explained by families: a spouse and children cost less than the principal applicant.

How the contribution breaks down

The structure of the payment for a single applicant under the DSP looks like this.

According to the European Commission's estimate, of the USD 130,000 the state keeps around USD 80,000, and the rest is distributed among licensed agents. For a family of four the payment starts at USD 180,000, and the state's share in it is proportionately higher.

The full estimate including every fee and professional work is covered separately in what Vanuatu citizenship really costs. It also shows why the total is always higher than the headline contribution.

What it comes to in practice

Now the same from the other side — from money to people. We take the official revenue figures and divide them by the official numbers of passports issued over the same periods.

Two independent samples give almost the same result: about VT 5.1-5.2 million per passport, roughly USD 42,000-43,000. The convergence of the two calculations is the main argument that the figure is correct.

How much the state receives on average per passport issued. The first two values are calculated from official data: programme revenue divided by the number of passports issued over the same period. The 2024 and 2025 figures are a BRIDGES estimate based on the Reserve Bank of Vanuatu's reporting and our practice.

Why 43 thousand and not 80

The gap between the calculated figure and the state's share of a single contribution is puzzling until you remember that the passport goes not only to the principal applicant.

• The principal applicant pays the full amount.
• A spouse is added for about USD 45,000.
• A child under 18 for about USD 20,000.
• An adult child or other relative for about USD 25,000.

A family of four receives four passports for a payment from USD 180,000. The average collected per document falls to just over forty thousand — exactly what the calculation shows. How this works at filing is covered in the article on Vanuatu citizenship for the whole family.

Working out a family budget? Calculate for the family

What this gives the applicant

The calculation is useful not in itself but for three practical conclusions.

First: applying as a family is better value than applying one by one. Each additional family member in the application costs several times less than a separate application later. On a family of four the difference runs to tens of thousands of dollars.

Second: the price will not fall. The programme brings the state more than a hundred million dollars a year at administrative costs of less than one per cent of that sum. There is no economic reason to cut the contribution, and historically it has only risen.

Third: there are no discounts. The state's part of the payment is fixed and goes to a treasury account. If you are offered a price well below the market, the saving comes either from the agent's remuneration or from the amount of work on preparing the case — and the latter costs more than it saves. What this looks like in real life is covered in the article on Vanuatu passport fraud.

How the cost of entry has changed

The contribution has risen not once but consistently, and each increase was accompanied by tougher requirements. The trend, from our practice and the conditions in force at the time:

Over ten years the cost of entry has risen by more than half and has never once fallen. That follows directly from what the calculation shows: the programme matters too much to the budget for dumping. Waiting for better terms has historically cost applicants more than applying straight away.

How it compares: other programmes

The size of the state's share in the payment is a useful benchmark when choosing between programmes. It shows what you are paying for: a contribution to the treasury or the servicing of the process.

In every case this is a non-refundable payment, not an investment that comes back. It is a fundamental point worth stating before signing: the money does not return under any scenario, including refusal after the check — in that case the part not covered by fees already incurred is returned. A detailed comparison in money terms is in Vanuatu or the Caribbean.

Vanuatu cost calculator →

How to make sure the money went to the state

Since we are looking at how much the treasury receives, it makes sense to show how to check this in your own case. The mechanics are simple, but they are rarely explained.

• An official invoice. The state's part of the payment is invoiced by the state body, not an intermediary. Ask for it before the transfer, not after.
• A treasury account. The funds go to a state account whose details match the published ones. An agent's personal or corporate account should not appear in this chain.
• Confirmation of receipt. After the transfer the body confirms receipt, and you must be shown that confirmation.
• A separate line for the work. The agent's fee and our work are paid under the engagement as a separate payment, not inside the contribution.

If all four points are met, the question "did the money really arrive" is settled by documents. If you are asked to transfer the whole sum in one payment to an intermediary's account, that is a reason to stop and look into it, however convincing the explanation sounds.

What this money means for Vanuatu

For a country of around three hundred thousand people, more than a hundred million dollars a year is not an extra line of revenue but a load-bearing element of the budget. Running the Citizenship Commission itself is budgeted for 2026 at around VT 82 million — less than one per cent of what the programme brings in.

Hence the answer to the question asked most often: the programme will not be closed. External pressure concerns third countries' visa regimes, not Vanuatu's right to grant citizenship. The detailed analysis of the programme's durability is in Vanuatu 2026: the year in figures.

Where the money goes inside the country

The question is asked less often than it should be, yet it is directly linked to the programme's durability. The funds go into the development support fund and then into the general budget.

For a state of around three hundred thousand people this is comparable to its largest sources of own revenue. The programme finances post-cyclone reconstruction, infrastructure and current budget spending. That is why decisions about it are taken at parliamentary level and the programme itself is established in law — the legal structure is analysed in Vanuatu's official citizenship programme.

The practical conclusion for an applicant: the programme has a domestic beneficiary in the country's budget, and that is stronger than any external pressure. Programmes close where they are politically more costly than they are economically beneficial. In Vanuatu the ratio is the reverse.

What Vanuatu citizenship costs →Hidden costs →

BRIDGES service: Vanuatu citizenship by investment with BRIDGES support.