Is the Programme Open Now?

Few questions come up as often as this one, and few are answered as badly. Headlines about "suspended" Vanuatu citizenship circulate every few months, usually mixing up three different things: the programmes run by the Citizenship Office, the European visa decisions and the situation of individual agents. This page separates them and states, with a date, what we have been able to confirm.

Status checked: 19 October 2026. Programme rules can change by regulation or Cabinet decision. If you are reading this much later, treat the date as the limit of what is confirmed here.

The short answer

The Development Support Programme (DSP), the main investment route, was not covered by the 2025 suspension described below, and we have found no published decision suspending it since. Applications under it are lodged by a designated agent; an applicant cannot apply directly.

The Capital Investment Immigration Plan (CIIP) is different. In March 2025 the Citizenship Commission suspended new CIIP applications until further notice, pending a review. We have not found a confirmed resumption, so the CIIP should be treated as unavailable unless a designated agent shows you a current official notice saying otherwise.

What exactly was suspended in 2025

The March 2025 decision applied to new applications under the CIIP. Reports at the time, quoting the chair of the Citizenship Commission, described it as a pause to close gaps in that programme. The same reports stated that the Development Support Programme, where contributions are paid directly into the government's designated account, was not included.

A review of the CIIP was ordered at government level, and the regulations governing agents were amended to add reporting duties. None of this, on the sources we could check, extended the suspension to the DSP.

What the European and British decisions changed — and what they did not

Much of the confusion comes from the visa decisions, which concern the passport, not the programme:

• The European Union suspended visa-free access for Vanuatu passports in part in 2022 and in full on 4 February 2023, citing the investor citizenship scheme.
• On 12 December 2024 the Council of the EU decided to end the visa exemption permanently. Regulation (EU) 2025/11 moved Vanuatu to the EU visa-required list from 3 February 2025.
• The United Kingdom introduced a visa requirement for Vanuatu nationals on 19 July 2023.

These decisions did not close the programme. They reduced what the passport offers for travel, which is a reason to reassess whether the route suits you, not evidence that applications have stopped.

How to check the status yourself

1. Start with the official source. The Citizenship Office publishes notices on its own website. The page on official sources explains which pages to read and how to tell them from agency copies.
2. Ask the designated agent for the notice, not a summary. A legitimate agent can point you to the current rule or announcement. "It is open, trust us" is not an answer.
3. Check the date of anything you read. Articles from 2023 or 2024 are still widely shared and often describe a situation that has since changed.
4. Separate the programme from the passport. "Vanuatu lost visa-free Europe" and "Vanuatu suspended citizenship" are different statements; only the first is about travel.

Warning signs in status claims

Some offers use the uncertainty itself as a sales tool. Be careful with:

• "Last chance before the programme closes" — urgency is a pressure tactic, not a status update.
• "We can still process CIIP applications" without an official notice showing the suspension was lifted.
• Any offer from a firm that is not on the official register of designated agents. Only those firms can lodge an application; the page on buying citizenship lawfully covers how to recognise a scam.

What this means if you are considering applying

If you are looking at the investment route, the practical questions are whether the DSP fits your needs and whether your documents, source of funds and family composition are ready. The status question is answered by a current official notice; everything else depends on your file.

The real estate option and the nature of the contribution are explained separately, as is how we prepare a file before it reaches a designated agent.