Vanuatu Dual Citizenship Rules

Yes, Vanuatu allows dual citizenship. Since constitutional amendments took effect in 2014, a person can be a citizen of Vanuatu while keeping another nationality, and an investor applying under the Development Support Program (DSP) is never asked to surrender an existing passport. Whether you actually end up holding two citizenships is decided elsewhere: by the law of the country whose passport you hold today.

That is why the first thing we review for a family is not a bank statement but the nationality law of every country whose passport one of its members carries.

Where Vanuatu Law Stands

Two texts set the rules on Vanuatu nationality: the Constitution, in its Chapter 3, and the Citizenship Act [Cap 112] of 1980. Parliament amended Chapter 3 in 2013, and one of the changes that came into force in 2014 was formal recognition of dual nationality. The Citizenship Office describes this on its legislative framework page, which also lists later amendments to the Act, including provisions on dual nationality for CIIP investors.

For a DSP applicant the practical effect is simple. Nothing in the file asks you to renounce, surrender or declare away another nationality. The Citizenship Commission grants the citizenship and signs the certificate; the passport comes afterward from the Immigration and Passport Services, which sit within the Ministry of Internal Affairs. You can hold that passport together with the one you already have, and the citizenship you receive is the same citizenship any other naturalized person holds.

How Your Home Country's Law Can Play Out

Nationality laws react in very different ways when a citizen voluntarily acquires a foreign nationality. The examples below show the spread of outcomes; they are illustrations, not a substitute for checking the rule that applies to you on the day you apply.

Two refinements matter. First, the outcome can differ for people who were born with two nationalities, for minors, and for those who acquired their first citizenship by naturalization. Second, the rule is applied person by person. A family in which the parents hold one nationality and a child another may face two different laws, so we review every nationality held by everyone on the application, not just the main applicant's.

How to Apply for Vanuatu Dual Citizenship

There is no separate dual-citizenship application. You apply for Vanuatu citizenship and, where your home law permits, simply keep what you have. For someone without family links to Vanuatu or long residence there, the DSP is the route; its legal basis is section 13E of the Citizenship Act.

The DSP is easy to confuse with two other forms: Form A is naturalization after ten years of continuous residence, and Form D is the application form of the Capital Investment Immigration Plan (CIIP). The CIIP was suspended in March 2025; industry sources report it reopened in May 2025 under amended rules, but no official notice confirming the current terms has been published, so we confirm its status at the assessment. The sequence we follow:

1. Home-law review and free assessment. Person by person, we establish whether the current nationality would survive and what permission or report it depends on, then put eligibility and the full cost in writing.
2. Home-country formalities. Any prior permission is obtained before the Vanuatu application is lodged; any later notice is put in the calendar.
3. The document pack. Passport copies valid for at least six more months, a police clearance, a notarized CV (the FIU notice of January 2025 requires one in every file), birth and marriage records, and a documented trail showing where the money comes from, all translated by certified translators and apostilled where needed.
4. Lodging. Vanuatu law reserves lodging to agents the Citizenship Commission has designated, so the file goes in through one of them. Two charges arise here: US$5,000 for the checks of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and VT 5,000 per application.
5. Checks and decision. Background checks are run by the FIU together with an international due diligence provider. The file then passes through the Citizenship Office and the Screening Committee before reaching the Commission, which alone decides. Before that decision is taken, 25% of the prescribed government fee has to be paid, and it is not refunded if the Commission refuses. A criminal conviction of any kind rules out approval.
6. After approval. The remaining government fee follows, in US dollars and only through official channels, unless you paid everything at the outset. From then you have three months to swear allegiance before a Commissioner for Oaths, and two more can be granted on a written request with a good reason. A Citizenship Office notice of August 2020 allowed the oath by video link until further notice; it has not been withdrawn, and the designated agent confirms which form is accepted for your file. The certificate follows, and each person then applies for a passport.

For one applicant, the lowest program price the Regulation permits is US$130,000. It is a floor for the whole program, not the government's fee by itself.

Children With Two Nationalities

Children under 18 join a parent's application, and so can those aged 18 to 25 who study full time and either live with the applicant or depend on the applicant financially. For each of them, the question of keeping their other nationality is answered by that country's law, which sometimes treats minors more generously than adults and sometimes does not.

A child born after the parent's grant is already a Vanuatu citizen by virtue of clause 8(5) of the DSP Regulation, which fixes a VT 10,000 passport fee for the child. Whether that baby also acquires the other parent's nationality depends on the other country's rules on descent. Under Vanuatu passport policy, every child needs a book of their own, and a passport for a minor is issued only with the written consent of a parent or legal guardian.

Living With Two Passports

Choosing the passport for each trip. The Vanuatu book reaches 85 to 88 destinations without an advance visa, depending on the index; Henley's October 2026 edition counts 85 and ranks it 60th. For the Schengen area a visa has been required since 4 February 2023, and for Britain since 19 July 2023. Held alongside a European or North American passport, it complements rather than replaces it, so use whichever document gives the easier entry and be consistent on each journey.

Going home. Many countries insist that their own nationals enter and leave on the national passport and treat them only as nationals while on their territory. A Vanuatu passport does not give you a different status in your dealings with your own government.

Forms and declarations. Visa applications, bank onboarding and some employment checks ask for every nationality you hold. Declare both. Concealing a nationality creates far more trouble than holding it.

Tax. In most countries tax liability follows residence, not passports, while US citizens remain taxable in the United States on worldwide income. Acquiring Vanuatu citizenship neither makes you tax resident there nor ends obligations anywhere else. We do not advise on tax; take that advice where you live.

Mistakes That Put a First Citizenship at Risk

• Lodging the Vanuatu file before a required retention permit has been granted at home.
• Reading silence in a nationality law as permission, when the law actually ends citizenship automatically.
• Checking the main applicant's nationality and forgetting a spouse or adult child who holds a different one.
• Missing a notification deadline after the grant and paying a penalty that could have been avoided.
• Assuming that the Vanuatu certificate or passport will stay invisible to the home country. Plan as if it will be known.

Planning Your Dual Citizenship With Us

The free assessment starts with the nationality laws of every person who would be on the file, because that is where dual-citizenship plans fail, and our citizenship lawyers check your home country's rules before anything else. If your home country would take away your current citizenship, we tell you before anything is spent.

If it allows both, we fully assist you in obtaining Vanuatu citizenship: the family plan; translations, apostilles, police certificates and the paper trail for your funds; lodging by a government-designated agent, as the law of Vanuatu demands; the FIU checks and the Commission's decision; payments in US dollars through official channels; and finally the oath, the certificate and a passport for each family member.