Vanuatu Crypto Passport

A "Vanuatu crypto passport" is a marketing label, not a separate program. Holders of digital assets use the same Development Support Program (DSP) as any other applicant, and what they end up with is the standard Vanuatu passport. The Citizenship Office refuses Bitcoin and every other cryptocurrency as payment and recognizes only the US dollar. Coins and tokens are therefore sold for dollars first, and the due diligence follows the money back to its origin.

One clarification before going further: if you arrived here looking for a Vanuatu crypto exchange or virtual asset license, that is a financial-regulation matter entirely separate from citizenship, and we do not handle it.

Where the Label Comes From, and What the Government Actually Says

Sites selling Vanuatu citizenship "for Bitcoin" made the phrase "crypto passport" popular. The Citizenship Office has dealt with the point directly in a notice on its own website. There the Office rules out payments in Bitcoin or any cryptocurrency for its investor programs and names the US dollar as the one currency the regulations under the Citizenship Act allow. The notice covers the Contribution Program, the Development Support Program and the Real Estate Option Program. You can read it on the Citizenship Office's website.

The DSP Regulation reaches the same result through its payment rule. Under clause 6(4)(a), a payment exists only once money reaches the program's account with the National Bank of Vanuatu and the Commission has proof of the payment. Coins in a wallet can be worth a great deal, but the only thing the government ever receives is a dollar transfer to that bank.

So the honest description of a crypto-funded application is this: digital assets are converted into US dollars, the conversion is documented, and the dollars are used to pay the program price and fees through the normal channels.

From Wallet to Government Account: The Lawful Sequence

1. Inventory. At the free assessment we look at what you hold, where it sits (exchange accounts, hardware wallets, custodians) and what records survive for each holding.
2. Choosing what to sell. We agree which assets will fund the application, keeping to holdings whose history can be documented most cleanly.
3. Conversion. The sale goes through an exchange or broker account in your own name, so that the record shows you as both seller and recipient of the proceeds.
4. Bank leg. The dollars, or local currency later converted, are paid out to a bank account in your name. This statement is the bridge between the crypto history and the payments.
5. Payments. Government amounts are paid in US dollars on the Regulation's schedule. If a designated agent offers to receive and convert digital assets itself, ask whether it can do so lawfully and get its process, fees and exchange-rate terms in writing before agreeing.

Skipping step 4, for instance by sending coins straight to a third party who promises to "pay the government", breaks the chain of evidence the due diligence relies on and leaves you without a clear record of who paid what.

Keep everything the sequence produces: exchange exports, sale confirmations, withdrawal records, bank statements and copies of each transfer instruction. The FIU or the international due diligence firm may come back with questions weeks later, and the answer is far quicker when the records are already filed in date order with a short note explaining each step.

What the Due Diligence Will Want to See

The Financial Intelligence Unit checks every DSP applicant, and its notice applied from 16 January 2025 requires each file to hold a passport copy, a police clearance, a CV certified by a notary, and a receipt for a government payment. For crypto holders the CV matters more than usual: it has to explain, in ordinary language, how a person with your career came to hold the assets being used. The supporting records depend on how the wealth arose.

Gaps happen, especially for holdings acquired years ago on platforms that no longer exist. They are not automatically fatal, but they must be acknowledged and bridged with whatever evidence survives, rather than left for the checks to discover. Our citizenship lawyers draft the source-of-funds account with you and test it against the records before it goes anywhere.

Price Swings Between Quote and Payment

The Vanuatu citizenship cost in US dollars does not move with the market, while your assets do. If you keep the holdings until each payment falls due, a fall in the market increases the number of coins you need to sell. The schedule gives you a sense of when exposure arises:

• the US$5,000 due diligence fee at the start of the checks;
• one quarter of the prescribed government fee ahead of the Commission's review, which the Regulation keeps if the answer is no;
• the remaining 75% before the certificate, within the three months after approval that the Citizenship Act allows for the oath and payment.

Clause 6(3) allows the whole government fee to be paid at once. Converting early removes market risk but brings forward money that could be lost on refusal, at least the 25% advance. Stablecoins do not solve the problem at the payment end: they are still cryptocurrency, and the notice excludes any cryptocurrency. We discuss the timing with you; we do not advise on investments or tax.

Questions to Settle With the Agent Before You Convert

Because the designated agent is the party that lodges the file and handles the government side, a few points are worth agreeing in writing before any asset is sold:

• which records of the crypto history the agent and the due diligence firm will expect, and in what format (exports, screenshots, signed statements);
• whether the agent will accept funds that arrive from an exchange account, a broker or only from a bank account in your name;
• which bank account the government amounts will be paid from, and who sends each transfer;
• what happens to amounts already paid if the file is deferred or refused;
• who bears the cost if the dollar value of what you sold falls short of a payment when it falls due.

Clear answers here prevent the two most avoidable problems in crypto-funded files: evidence that does not match the payment trail, and a payment that arrives late or short.

Claims Worth Discounting

• "Pay the government in BTC." The Office's notice says the opposite.
• "No questions about the source." Every DSP applicant goes through FIU due diligence, and crypto wealth is not exempt.
• "Crypto gains become tax-free." Citizenship on its own does not move your tax residence, and we do not give tax advice.
• "Faster for crypto investors." There is no separate track; the same checks and the same Commission decide every file.

How We Work With Crypto Holders

As an independent team of lawyers and advisers, we handle the whole citizenship side for crypto holders. We start by checking eligibility and the budget, then map out the conversion and the trail of records, gather the documents and write the funds account. A government-designated agent lodges the file, since Vanuatu law permits no other route, and we stay with you through the FIU's questions, the Commission's ruling, the dollar payments, the oath, the certificate and the passport request. We are not a government body or a designated agent, and we do not exchange, hold or convert digital assets ourselves.

If your wealth is mostly in digital assets and you are considering Vanuatu citizenship, ask for the free assessment. A short description of how and when the assets were acquired, where they are held and who would apply is enough to start; we reply in writing with an eligibility view, the government amounts and the records worth gathering first.