A Vanuatu Passport for a CEO: Four Hours of Personal Time and No Flights

Forty minutes between the board and the investors

Veronika is 49. She is CEO of a company that supplies medical equipment to clinics across Russia. Two board meetings a month, negotiations with manufacturers in Asia and the Middle East, a calendar booked six months ahead.

She had been thinking about a second passport for a long time. Every trip to manufacturers in Dubai or Hong Kong started with visas, certificates and waiting. And recent years had taught her, as a good executive, to keep a backup for anything important.

One thing held her back. Acquaintances who had obtained second citizenship talked about trips for biometrics, consulate visits and queues. She did not have a single day for that.

She did not ask how much it cost. She asked how many hours it would take from her personally.

Martina VeberHead of Case Processing

The factory visit that never happened

At the meeting the lawyer asked what had been the last straw. Veronika told him about last autumn.

A manufacturer in Hong Kong invited her to the factory before signing a major contract. She needed to see the assembly line in person. The visa did not come in time, and her deputy went instead. The contract was signed, but the warranty terms were worse than she had hoped.

On a Russian passport Hong Kong is visa-free for only 14 days. On a Vanuatu passport, 90. And Singapore, where the company has a second supplier, requires a visa for Russians but not for Vanuatu citizens, for up to 30 days.

The second reason was personal. She wanted a document in case something happened to her main passport while travelling. She had once replaced a passport lost abroad, and it had cost her a week.

The lawyer counted her hours, not the money

The lawyer did not start explaining the programme. He took a sheet of paper and mapped the whole path step by step, marking where Veronika herself was needed and where the team could handle it.

There were five places where she could not be replaced. This meeting. Signing a power of attorney at a notary. The medical check. Signing the forms. And biometrics.

Here she tensed: surely biometrics are abroad? The lawyer said no. Since July 2025 biometrics for a Vanuatu passport are taken in five cities, and one of them is Moscow. No flights needed.

She looked at the sheet and smiled for the first time in the meeting. Four hours over three months she could find. Her assistant was immediately asked to put those five steps in the calendar.

The money decision took three minutes

For one person the donation costs USD 135,000 including the due diligence fee. The coconut oil fund costs 165,000, with 50,000 returned after five years.

The lawyer asked whether the application was just for her or for the family. That evening she talked to her husband. He works at a state research institute and decided he did not need a second passport now. The children are adults, live separately and will want to decide for themselves.

The lawyer explained that the door was not closed. A spouse and children can be added to citizenship later with a separate application if they change their minds. They decided to file for her alone.

For a single applicant the fund costs USD 30,000 more, and the money also sits in it for five years. She chose the donation and asked her finance director to prepare income documents. The lawyer added one more advantage for her: the donation is paid only after approval, so the money stays in her account for all three months. How the programmes compare is covered in donation or fund.

Three people instead of one applicant

To save Veronika’s time, we built a small team around the application. Our lawyer ran the whole process. Her assistant handled the calendar and couriers. The company’s finance director handled the money documents.

Once a week the lawyer sent the assistant a short status: what was done, what was needed from Veronika and when. Veronika herself saw one message a week and signed what was brought to her.

The assistant and a colour-coded calendar

The assistant gave the passport steps their own colour in the calendar. Each block sat next to existing plans: the notary at lunchtime, the medical check on a meeting-free morning, signatures before a board meeting.

She received the couriers herself and kept the papers in one tabbed folder. When something needed signing, a yellow sticky note sat on the folder. Veronika signed without searching for anything.

The notary came to the office

The power of attorney for obtaining certificates had to be signed before a notary. Veronika could not go to a notary’s office, so her assistant arranged a notary visit at lunchtime. It was signed in half an hour, between two calls.

A medical check in one morning

The lawyer fitted the programme’s medical check into one morning at a private clinic. We sent the report form to the doctor in advance so every item was completed in one visit, with no need to come back.

The finance director and a question about dividends

Due diligence always looks at where the money comes from. Veronika received a salary and dividends as a co-owner of the company. The finance director collected the dividend decisions, income statements and three years of bank statements.

At the check our specialist spotted a mismatch. In one statement the dividend amount was lower than in the payout decision. The finance director explained: that was tax withheld by the company. We attached the tax calculation, and the numbers matched.

Without that small detail due diligence would have sent a request, and Veronika would have had to spend time explaining. Instead the explanation was already in the package.

Our representative collected the police certificate under the power of attorney, so Veronika did not stand in a single queue. The birth certificate and diploma were apostilled within a week.

The Russian documents were apostilled and received certified English translations. How money is checked is covered in applicant due diligence.

A due diligence question about board seats

A week after filing, due diligence asked one question. Veronika sits on the boards of two companies. Are any of them state-owned?

We had expected this. Due diligence always checks whether an applicant holds public office or has ties to the state. At the start the lawyer had asked the assistant for registry extracts on the companies where Veronika sits on the board.

Both companies are private, with no state shareholding. The reply went out two days later, and Veronika never even heard about it: the lawyer prepared the extracts and a short explanation and sent them through the licensed agent. There were no further questions.

Before filing the lawyer also checked one more thing. In Russia some positions, such as civil servants, may not hold a second citizenship. Veronika runs a private company, so that restriction does not apply to her.

Three months she barely noticed

While the application went through due diligence and waited for the Commission, Veronika lived her usual life: board meetings, opening a new warehouse in Kazan, negotiations with a supplier from South Korea.

Once a week the assistant received one message from the lawyer. Three lines: where the application is, what is done, whether anything is needed from Veronika. Nine times out of ten the answer was “nothing needed”.

The approval email arrived during a board meeting. The assistant quietly placed a note in front of her. Veronika read it, nodded and went on discussing the budget.

Biometrics in Moscow and a board meeting the same day

After approval by the Citizenship Commission, Veronika paid the donation from her account. Biometrics remained.

The assistant found a window in the calendar: the morning before a board meeting. The lawyer booked Veronika for nine o’clock and arrived early to meet her at the entrance with the document folder.

Inside it took less than an hour: passport check, fingerprints, photo, signature. The lawyer had reminded her to bring the original passport used for the application. At 9:50 she was getting into her car, and at 10:30 she opened the board meeting.

Under the plan the passport arrives by courier at the office 1-3 weeks after biometrics. All stages are covered in Vanuatu citizenship timeline.

What the applicant gets

Under this scenario Veronika has a Vanuatu passport 2-3 months after filing. The outcome is described as expected: the decision rests with the Citizenship Commission.

Personal time spent: about four hours. Not a single flight for the process.

The passport will be kept in the office safe, and the citizenship certificate at home with the original documents. The lawyer explained the rule separately: buy the ticket on the passport you travel with and use it at both borders. She leaves and enters Russia on her Russian passport.

Her next trip to the manufacturer in Hong Kong is already planned. On a Vanuatu passport she can stay there visa-free for up to 90 days, and in Singapore and Malaysia for up to 30. Her assistant no longer needs to assemble a visa package in advance.

She immediately scheduled what she had been putting off: a factory visit in Hong Kong and a trip to the second supplier in Singapore in the same week. Before, that combination would have required a Singapore visa and fitting into Hong Kong’s 14 days. Now it is just two flights.

She keeps her Russian citizenship. She will notify the Interior Ministry of the second citizenship within 60 days; the lawyer prepared the notification in advance, so it only needs signing. A second citizenship does not by itself change tax residence.

Like everything else, the assistant put the notification in the calendar ahead of time, with a reminder a week before the deadline.

The best compliment from a busy executive: she barely noticed the process was happening.

Martina VeberHead of Case Processing

Who this format suits

This story repeats for executives and owners for whom time is worth more than money. They need not only a passport, but to stay fully at work while getting it.

The secret of this format is not speed but clear roles. The executive decides and signs. The assistant holds the calendar. Finance gathers the money documents. The lawyer runs the process and steps in only when the executive is truly needed.

If you live in Moscow or Saint Petersburg, biometrics can be given in your own city. The same goes for Dubai or Hong Kong. Everything else is handled by the team and couriers.

Similar stories: a Vanuatu passport for a Singapore deal and a backup passport for a tech founder. Full programme terms are on the Vanuatu citizenship page.

Composite example: this story is based on typical enquiries; no real clients are described. Figures as of September 2026. The decision on citizenship is made by the Vanuatu Citizenship Commission.