Vanuatu Citizenship for a Family with 1990s Wealth: What the Passport Gives Heirs and What It Does Not

A factory in Samara, children in Dubai and Cyprus

This is a composite example: the story is built from typical enquiries from families with significant wealth, and no real client is described; the names are invented. Leonid is 64 and a Russian citizen. For thirty years he ran a steel structures plant in Samara; in 2021 he sold his share and stepped back.

Lyudmila is 61 and spent her career as finance director of the same plant. Their daughter lives in Dubai, their son Nikita and his family in Cyprus. The parents own a flat in Samara, a house outside Moscow, a flat in Limassol near their son and savings in Russia and Cyprus.

Leonid’s goal was clear: while he is well, to work out how all this will pass to the children and spare the heirs from sorting papers in three countries later.

Leonid came for zero taxes. He left with a plan in which the passport took its proper place.

Martina VeberHead of Case Processing

The first conversation: where a passport’s reach ends

The lawyer did not argue with what friends had said but took it apart. Vanuatu indeed has no taxes on personal income, inheritance or gifts. But taxes follow the rules of the country where a person is tax resident and the country where the property is.

Leonid lives in Samara and remains a Russian tax resident. The flat in Samara and the house outside Moscow are inherited under Russian law, the flat in Limassol under Cypriot law. A Vanuatu passport changes neither.

The lawyer also pointed out some good news. In Russia inheritance received by children and spouses is not taxed. Only notarial fees apply. The tax side of the family’s question turned out simpler than Leonid thought.

For Cyprus the lawyer advised speaking to a local lawyer. Cyprus has no inheritance tax, but transferring the flat to heirs follows Cypriot rules, and without a local will it can take a long time.

What the passport gives this family

After the tax discussion Leonid asked directly: then why do I need a Vanuatu passport? The lawyer suggested looking at how the family lives today.

The parents spend half the year near their children: winters in Dubai with their daughter Vera, summers in Cyprus with their son Nikita. Both Russian passports expire in two years and can be replaced only in Russia. If something happened to a passport while travelling, the parents, at 64 and 61, would be left without a document far from home.

A second passport for each spouse solved that. Plus visa-free trips to Hong Kong and Singapore, where their son Nikita has long been inviting them to travel. Russia allows a second citizenship, and the couple keep their Russian passports.

All correspondence with us was handled by Vera in Dubai. Her parents dislike long emails, so once a week she gathered them on a video call, and the lawyer spent twenty minutes explaining what had been done and what was needed from them. Her father wrote everything in a notebook and ticked it off by the next call.

For inheritance the lawyer advised something else: update the wills in Russia and Cyprus and gather documents on the origin of the wealth into one folder. That folder would be needed both for Vanuatu due diligence and by the children.

The donation for a couple: no money locked in a fund for five years

For a couple the donation costs USD 155,000 including the due diligence fee. The coconut oil fund costs 165,000, with 50,000 returned after five years.

Lyudmila, a former finance director, calculated both options herself. The fund is better value after five years, but Leonid was putting his estate in order and did not want part of the money to sit in a fund for five years and become yet another line in the heirs’ paperwork. The couple chose the donation. How the two programmes compare is covered in donation or fund.

Wealth that began with the 1993 privatisation

The source-of-funds check looks at the whole history of the wealth. For this family it began in 1993, when Leonid received shares in the plant during privatisation.

Documents from the 1990s

The first period was the hardest. Leonid kept his 1993 privatisation documents in a folder at home, but he had no shareholder register extract from those years. Our representative requested an archive extract from the registrar that maintains the plant’s register. It arrived after six weeks.

The registrar did not issue the extract at once. The first reply said the 1993 register had been transferred from one registrar to another and some records were kept in an archive. Our representative went to the archive in person, and a staff member found the right volume within an hour. The extract was issued six weeks after the request.

The agreements for buying out other shareholders were found in the plant’s archive. The new owners allowed copies to be made, and the plant’s chief accountant, who had worked there under Leonid, helped find them.

The share sale and dividends

The later years were easier. Lyudmila, as the former finance director, had kept dividend decisions, income statements and tax returns for every year. Leonid found the 2021 share sale agreement and the tax return showing tax paid in his online tax account.

A medical check that took two weeks

The citizenship application includes a medical report on the programme form. For a forty-year-old applicant that is one morning at a clinic. At 64 the doctor ordered more tests.

Leonid has long been diagnosed with hypertension and takes medication. The lawyer explained in advance: a chronic condition under control is not an obstacle, but it must be described accurately in the report, with a cardiologist’s summary.

Lyudmila was also given extended tests, although she had no complaints. She took it as a chance to finally have the check-up she had put off for two years and did it at the same clinic.

The cardiologist issued the summary within a week, and the tests took another week. The lawyer checked that every item on the form was completed and signed, and both spouses’ reports went into the package without corrections.

A due diligence question about a 1998 transaction

Two weeks after filing, due diligence asked one question: where did Leonid get the money in 1998 to buy out another shareholder? It was a crisis year, and the amount looked large.

Leonid was almost pleased by the question. He remembered the 1998 crisis well: many shareholders were selling their stakes to get any money at all, and he agreed with one of them on a buyout in instalments. The lawyer asked him to write the story in two paragraphs in his own words, and the explanation went into the reply to due diligence.

The answer was in the same archive folder. The buyout was paid in instalments over three years from dividends, and the agreement provided for deferred payment. The lawyer attached the agreement with its payment schedule and dividend statements from those years. There were no further questions, and a month later the approval letter arrived. How due diligence works is covered in applicant due diligence.

Biometrics in Moscow on the way to their son

After approval the couple paid the donation. The USD 5,000 due diligence fee had been paid at filing, leaving 150,000.

Biometrics are given in person in one of five cities: Port Vila, Dubai, Hong Kong, Moscow or Saint Petersburg. The couple were about to fly to their son Nikita in Cyprus via Moscow. The lawyer booked them for the morning before the flight. The couple came straight to the centre with their suitcases, gave biometrics in under an hour for both and reached the airport with time to spare.

Under the plan the passports arrive by courier 1-3 weeks after biometrics. All stages are covered in Vanuatu citizenship timeline.

What the family gets

In this scenario the Commission approved the application, and Vanuatu passports for the couple arrive 3-4 months after the first message. In a real application the decision and timelines depend on the Citizenship Commission.

Each spouse will have a second passport for trips to the children. The family has planned the trip to Hong Kong and Singapore their son Nikita has long been suggesting for the spring.

Both keep their Russian citizenship. The couple will notify the Interior Ministry of the second citizenship within 60 days; the lawyer prepared the notifications in advance.

Leonid made his Cypriot will in the summer while staying with his son. The Cypriot lawyer his son recommended looked through our wealth history folder and said such a set of documents saves heirs months.

The main thing the family gained is in the folder. The whole wealth history since 1993 is now in one place. On the lawyer’s advice Leonid updated his will in Russia and ordered a new one in Cyprus. Their daughter in Dubai received a copy of the folder.

The passport gave the couple freedom to travel. Order in the inheritance came from documents and wills.

Martina VeberHead of Case Processing

Who this path suits

This story repeats in families where the parents live in Russia, the children have moved to other countries and property is held in several jurisdictions.

A second citizenship is useful to parents for visiting their children and as a backup document. Taxes and inheritance are still governed by the rules of the country of residence and the country where property is held, and are best planned with lawyers from those countries.

If wealth began in the nineties, it is worth checking early which documents from those years have survived. Archive register extracts and company records can often be obtained, but it takes weeks.

Similar stories: a retired couple: winter in Asia, summer in Greece and a family from Yekaterinburg and a check before payment. 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.