Why I Advise Against Waiting with Vanuatu

I will explain what I really think about waiting, why I started saying so plainly, and in which cases waiting is genuinely the right call. Because such cases exist, and I will talk about them too.

What I think, in short

Waiting in this industry is almost never free. People think they are postponing a decision. In fact they are making one — to pay more and pass a stricter check. It just does not look like a decision, because there is nothing to sign.

In ten years I have not seen a single year in which the conditions for Vanuatu became softer. Not one. The contribution rose, fees were added, the checks tightened. Every time a client came back a year later, the conversation began with "it used to be cheaper". Yes, it did.

First: I show two numbers

When I am asked whether the programme will be closed, I stopped arguing and started showing figures. I take a sheet of paper and write two numbers.

The first: one hundred and fifteen million dollars. That is what the programme brought Vanuatu's budget in 2024, according to official data from the country's Reserve Bank. The second: eighty-two million vatu. That is what the 2026 budget allocates to the whole Citizenship Commission — the people who run the programme.

Then the person usually does the sum themselves. Administration costs less than one per cent of what the programme brings in. No state gives up a source of that scale because someone outside is unhappy — least of all a state of three hundred thousand people that rebuilds after cyclones every few years.

I set out this arithmetic in detail in a separate analysis, what the programme means for Vanuatu's budget. If the subject matters to you, look at the figures yourself — they are public.

Second: the price has never gone down

This is what I recommend everyone considering waiting should look at: the history of the cost of entry.

One and a half times over ten years, and not a single step back. I cannot imagine the scenario in which a country with this revenue suddenly decides to charge less.

Calculating the cost of waiting is simple. On this trend a year costs roughly five to ten per cent of a case's budget. For a family that is ten to fifteen thousand dollars — exactly the sum the person was saving by choosing between agents.

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Third: it is getting stricter faster than it is getting more expensive

Everyone understands rising prices. Almost nobody understands rising strictness, and that matters more.

In 2021 Vanuatu rejected four applications out of just over a thousand. In 2023 it rejected twenty-two. A fivefold increase in two years. And the refusals are not for background but because the source of funds was only half evidenced.

I explain it like this. You used to be able to come with a bank statement and say: here, the money exists. Now they ask where it came from — along the whole chain, with contracts and taxes. A year from now, I am certain, they will ask more deeply still.

And this is where waiting hurts most. A case that can be assembled in a month today may, a year from now, require documents that are out of reach: the company has been sold, the partner has left, the bank has closed. I have seen such situations more than once. The refusal trend is analysed separately in refusals of Vanuatu citizenship.

When I myself say wait

Now the other side, otherwise this would be a sales pitch, and I do not like those.

If the goal has not been defined. A person says: I want a second passport, just in case. I ask: for what exactly? Silence. In that situation I ask them to think, because a passport is an instrument for a purpose, not a purchase in itself. Bought without a purpose, it then sits in a drawer and irritates.

If the source of funds cannot be evidenced right now. Sometimes documents are genuinely in progress: a deal not yet closed, taxes not yet filed, money in motion. Then it is better to wait three months and file with a complete pack than to file now and receive a request, followed by a refusal. A refusal is recorded, and the next application form will ask about it.

If you are waiting for a specific event. The sale of a business, a divorce, an inheritance. Here waiting makes sense: the very composition of the application changes.

In all three cases I say wait and explain why. The difference is that this is waiting with a date and a reason, not "let us see how it goes".

A separate word about Europe

The most frequent conversation of the past year and a half. A person comes and asks whether it is true that Vanuatu is now useless because the European Union has removed visa-free travel.

My answer: if your goal is to fly to Europe without a visa, this passport does not achieve it, and I will tell you so at the first meeting, not after payment. But if your goal is to be in Europe rather than fly over it, that is achieved through residence. And here the Vanuatu passport works as the entry: a Greek residence through property can be arranged on its basis, and there are Hungarian grounds. We have taken clients down this path more than once.

So: a fast passport in two to three months, then European status on that basis. The scheme works, and it has become the main scenario. What changed after the EU decision is analysed with figures in Vanuatu after the end of visa-free travel.

Three mistakes I have seen for twenty years in a row

The first: applying alone and leaving the family for later. The logic is understandable — let us see how it goes first. Financially it is the worst possible decision. A spouse in a joint application costs about forty-five thousand, a child twenty. As a separate application a year later it is a different sum and a fresh check. The family economics are analysed in the article on how much Vanuatu earns from one passport.

The second: choosing between agents on price. The state's part of the payment is the same for everyone and goes to a treasury account. A saving can come only from the work of preparing the case. In other words, the person saves on the one thing that affects the result.

The third: gathering documents after filing rather than before. That is where ninety per cent of delays come from. The review itself takes two to three months and does not depend on us. Preparation depends on us entirely, and it can take two weeks or six months.

How our first meeting goes

Let me describe it, so that you know what the conversation will be about if you decide to come.

The first thing I ask is not about money. I ask what you want this passport to settle. The answers vary: a deal in two months, a child going to study abroad, being tired of depending on one document, wanting a way into Europe. The answer determines which programme is discussed and whether any programme is discussed at all. Sometimes after this question we conclude that you do not need Vanuatu, and I say so.

The second is the source of funds. Not the amount but the origin. I ask you to describe in your own words where the money came from, and along the way I note the points where a reviewer will ask a question. There are usually two or three, and they are almost always closed by documents the person already has — they simply did not realise they needed to show them.

The third is the family composition. Here I always insist: include everyone you are planning to include, from the start. Not because a larger application suits me better, but because a year from now it will cost several times more and the check will start again.

Only after these three questions do we talk about timelines and budget. Not before: figures without a purpose mean nothing.

What I say about reputation

Another question that comes up almost every time: will there be problems with this passport, do people look at it askance?

I answer with data, not reassurance. Half of the applicants are Chinese citizens; the second country by volume is Russia. This is not a marginal sample; these are people who need a working second document. Since November 2025 the passport has been biometric and valid for ten years. The check has become a full one, and refusals have multiplied fivefold.

My personal view: the tightening is the best thing that has happened to the programme. While one in five hundred was refused, the questions were justified. Now that the checks are real, the document is worth more in substance. The applicant mix is analysed separately in who obtains a Vanuatu passport.

Vanuatu cost calculator →

What I advise

If you need a second passport at all, solve it on today's terms. Not because it will be closed tomorrow, but because tomorrow it will be more expensive and stricter. This is not pressure; it is ten years of observation.

If the goal has not been defined, do not buy. Define it first — I will help with that free of charge and without obligation; I do not need clients who, a year later, do not understand why they have this document.

And finally. I do not believe the talk that the programme is about to close. But I know for certain that the cost of entry rises every two or three years. In ten years it is the only pattern that has never once been broken.

The outlook for the programme to 2028 →How to obtain citizenship →

What to ask anyone who sells you this

To close, here are five questions I recommend asking not only us but everyone you talk to about a second passport. The answers will tell you more about a partner than a presentation will.

• Show me the estimate for my family, split into official payments and everything else. If they refuse to split it, you will not be able to compare the offer with another.
• Which account does the state's part go to? The right answer: a treasury account, against the state body's official invoice.
• What happens to the money if I am refused? The right answer takes into account that the main contribution is paid after approval.
• Which points in my background will raise questions? If there are "none", nobody has looked at the case.
• Give me a timeline and tell me exactly what could shift it. A timeline without a list of risks is a promise, not a plan.

We answer these five questions at the first meeting, before any payment. And I believe that is how anyone who takes on this work should operate.