Vanuatu Citizenship After the Schengen Loss: Still Worth It?
The EU suspended Vanuatu's visa waiver and the UK followed. What the passport still does, who should still buy it, and the better alternatives.
What happened
The EU partially suspended Vanuatu's Schengen visa waiver in 2022 and made the suspension full and indefinite as concerns over screening persisted; the UK withdrew visa-free access in 2023. The core criticism: passports issued in weeks with due diligence the EU judged inadequate, to applicants including individuals under international scrutiny. Vanuatu's headline selling point — cheap, fast European access — died with those decisions.
What the passport still does
Roughly 90+ destinations remain visa-free or visa-on-arrival, concentrated in Asia-Pacific: Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, much of the Pacific, plus parts of Africa and the Caribbean. Vanuatu itself levies no personal income tax, no capital gains tax and no inheritance tax. Processing remains 30–60 days at roughly $130,000 for a single applicant — still the fastest citizenship money can legitimately buy.
Who still rationally buys Vanuatu
Three profiles: applicants who need any second citizenship urgently (renunciation cases, statelessness risk, rapid Plan-B requirements); Asia-Pacific-centred businesspeople whose travel map barely touches Europe; and buyers treating the passport purely as insurance, not mobility. For everyone else, the value case has collapsed.
The math against the Caribbean
Vanuatu at ~$130,000 versus Dominica at $200,000 or Grenada at $235,000 (family of four): the $70,000–$100,000 difference buys UK + Schengen access, EU-engaged due diligence frameworks, mature programme governance, and — with Grenada — the US E-2 treaty. Priced per destination that matters, the Caribbean is cheaper.
Could Schengen access return?
Vanuatu has legislated reforms — stronger screening, clawing back revoked passports — aimed at restoring EU confidence. Restoration is possible in principle but has no timetable, and the EU's broader hostility to investment citizenship makes near-term reversal unlikely. Buy Vanuatu for what it is today, not for a recovery thesis.
Our guidance
We place clients in Vanuatu only when speed is genuinely decisive and the travel map fits. In every other case, we redirect the conversation to St. Kitts, Grenada or Dominica — or, for Europe-focused budgets, Greece's €250,000 Golden Visa. Take the 2-minute quiz to see where your priorities actually point.
