Vanuatu Passport Visa-Free Countries

In 2026 the Vanuatu passport gets you into roughly 85 to 88 countries and territories without a visa issued before departure. Henley's October 2026 index counts 85 and ranks the passport 60th; lists compiled from airline data on Wikipedia come to about 88. Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Fiji, Russia, much of Africa and most Caribbean islands are on the list. The Schengen Area and the United Kingdom are not, and neither are Australia, Canada, China, Japan, New Zealand or the United States.

The full A to Z list follows, with the type of entry and the stay allowed, then the destinations that need a visa, how the totals are calculated and what to check before a trip.

Six Points to Know Before the List

• The total is 85 to 88, not 130. Higher numbers in circulation date from before 2023 or count e-Visa countries, where you must still apply online and can be refused.
• No Schengen access without a visa. The EU ended the exemption for every Vanuatu national on 4 February 2023 and made the change permanent from 3 February 2025.
• No visa-free Britain. A UK visitor visa has been needed since 19 July 2023.
• Hong Kong is 90 days. The Hong Kong Immigration Department's own list confirms it; the 14-day figure repeated online is wrong.
• Russia counts by calendar year. The 90 days allowed are a yearly total, not a per-visit allowance.
• Each destination decides for itself. Entry rules change, so confirm with the destination's immigration authority before you book.

Vanuatu Passport Visa-Free Countries List, A to Z

The table covers every country where a Vanuatu passport holder needs nothing arranged before travel. "No visa": the border officer admits you on the passport alone. "On arrival": you receive a visa or permit at the airport or land crossing, normally against a fee. The stay column reflects the IATA Timatic entries that Wikipedia collates, and a few of those entries have not been refreshed for several years.

Hong Kong's 90 days can be checked on the Hong Kong Immigration Department's visit visa page, which lists Vanuatu by name.

Territories that admit Vanuatu passport holders

Airline data also shows a number of dependent territories as open. In the Pacific: Niue (30 days), the Cook Islands (31 days) and Wallis and Futuna (3 months). Among British territories: Anguilla (3 months), Montserrat, Gibraltar, the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands. French Pacific territories such as New Caledonia and French Polynesia appear as well; for any French overseas destination, confirm the rule with France's consular service, because airline entries may lag behind the EU's 2025 change. Indexes classify some of these territories in different ways, which is one reason their totals differ.

Where You Need a Visa or an Online Approval

The Schengen Area

The EU's position changed in stages. In March 2022 it suspended visa-free travel for Vanuatu passports issued from 25 May 2015 onward. From 4 February 2023 the suspension covered every Vanuatu national. Regulation (EU) 2025/11 then transferred Vanuatu to Annex I, the EU list of nationalities that require visas, with effect from 3 February 2025. The Council's press release of December 2024 links the decision to concerns about Vanuatu's investor citizenship schemes. Because ETIAS is designed for visa-exempt travelers, Vanuatu citizens do not use it; they apply for a Schengen visa for any stay in the 29 Schengen states.

The United Kingdom

Britain added Vanuatu to its visa national list on 19 July 2023. The entry appears in Appendix Visitor: Visa national list of the Immigration Rules, so tourism, family visits and short business trips all require a visitor visa in advance.

North America, Australasia and East Asia

Australia, Canada, China, Japan, New Zealand and the United States all require a visa from Vanuatu citizens. A Chinese visa waiver for Vanuatu has been talked about publicly but has not been confirmed, so plan on a visa.

e-Visa and electronic authorization countries

Albania, Colombia, Ethiopia, Georgia, India, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Vietnam let Vanuatu citizens apply for an e-Visa online, and Kenya uses an electronic travel authorization. Applying online is convenient, but it is still permission requested in advance and it can be refused. That is why these countries are not in the A to Z table, and why lists that include them reach totals above 100.

How the 85 and the 88 Are Counted

The Henley Passport Index, published by Henley & Partners from IATA data, checks a passport against 227 destinations. It awards a point where entry needs no visa, a visa on arrival, a visitor's permit on arrival or an ETA, but nothing where a visa or e-Visa must be obtained first. In October 2026 the Vanuatu passport scored 85: 52 visa-free entries, 27 visas on arrival and 6 electronic authorities.

Wikipedia's figure of about 88 counts visa-free and on-arrival entries from the airline database and lists territories separately. Neither method is wrong; they measure slightly different things. The headline rank quoted at the top of the Wikipedia article can also lag behind Henley's own data, which is why the ranks here come from Henley's October 2026 release. What matters more than either total is whether your own regular destinations appear in the table above.

The fall from 135 to 98 reflects the European decision, since every Schengen member is scored as its own destination, plus the British visa. Smaller shifts since then come partly from changes in other countries' passports, since a rank moves when neighbors in the table gain or lose access. Pacific neighbors fare differently in that October 2026 release: Fiji sits one place above Vanuatu at 59th (87 destinations), Samoa at 40th (128) and the Solomon Islands at 36th (134). The five Eastern Caribbean passports sold through investment programs reach 143 to 157, chiefly because Schengen remains open to them.

Before You Book a Trip

• Check the validity date. Passports issued from July 2019 are valid for ten years, although an older FAQ on a government site still mentions five. Many countries expect several months of validity left beyond the planned stay.
• Expect the airline to check first. Carriers verify entry requirements at check-in, so a missing visa usually surfaces at the departure airport rather than at the destination.
• Carry the basics for on-arrival entry. A return or onward ticket, an address for your stay and the fee are commonly requested.
• Count days the way the destination does. Russia's 90 days are a calendar-year total and Moldova's 90 days apply within any 180-day period.
• One book per traveler. Children cannot be added to a parent's machine-readable passport, so each family member needs their own.

Does This Passport Match Where You Travel?

Travelers whose trips mostly go to Pacific islands, Asian hubs, Russia, African states or the Caribbean get real use from the list above. If you need frequent visa-free trips to Europe or Britain, it does not, and nobody can change that for you.

Where the passport does fit, the Vanuatu golden passport route is citizenship first and the travel document second: document preparation, lodging by a government-designated agent (a legal requirement in Vanuatu), the FIU review, the Commission's ruling, the oath and the citizenship certificate, after which Vanuatu's Immigration and Passport Services issue a passport to each family member.

In the free assessment we compare your actual destinations with the list before you commit to anything. When the answer is yes, we fully assist you in obtaining Vanuatu citizenship and a passport for every member of your family.