The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs last week has voted 62-0 to remove Vanuatu permanently from visa waiver list, due to serious deficiencies with its Vanuatu CBI program.
The Rapporteur Paulo Cunha in his report said, The program’s lack of systematic information exchange with applicants’ countries of origin or residence exacerbates these security risks.
“Without proper communication and verification with other nations, it becomes challenging to assess the true background and intentions of applicants”
This gap in information sharing can lead to the issuance of passports to individuals from countries that typically require visas to enter the European Union, effectively circumventing the EU’s established visa procedures and security measures.
Further, absence of physical presence or residence requirements for applicants. This means that Vanuatu is allowing individuals to obtain its citizenship without ever travelling to the country, making it easier for these individuals to bypass traditional immigration controls and scrutiny. Additionally, the short processing periods for applications do not allow sufficient time for comprehensive background checks and security screenings.
The program’s flaws in due diligence, lack of physical presence requirements, and insufficient information exchange create vulnerabilities that can be exploited by individuals with malicious intent. These significant security deficiencies, it is evident that Vanuatu’s citizenship-by-investment program poses a substantial threat to the EU.
Therefore, it is imperative that the EU cancels Vanuatu’s visa exemption to protect itself and its Member States from potential security risks and to maintain the integrity of its immigration and border control systems.
Vanuatu has shown inadequate cooperation with the European Commission in addressing concerns about its investor citizenship scheme. Despite the EU’s efforts to engage in dialogue and resolve the issues, Vanuatu has failed to make meaningful progress, leading to the full suspension of its visa-free travel agreement with the EU in February 2023.
Vanuatu’s continued issuance of visas to Russian citizens amid the ongoing aggression in Ukraine exacerbates the situation. This practice undermines the EU’s persistent international efforts to isolate Russia diplomatically and economically, raising serious ethical and security concerns.
“This is the first time we have removed a third country from the visa-free list. We do not take this decision lightly; it is both proportionate and justified by the inadequate cooperation of the Republic of Vanuatu and the need to protect European borders from a threat of this scale.” said Paulo Cunha.
The EU vote comes at a time, when Vanuatu is crippled with unstable politics, declining CIP revenues, reduced tourism, Air Vanuatu liquidation, while still recovering from the aftermath natural disasters from tropical cycles in 2023. Vanuatu since then, made changes to the CIP program imposing personal visit to Vanuatu to collect passports.
“The CIP programs mostly attract individuals seeking to exploit the system for illegal activities, which can tarnish Vanuatu’s international reputation.”
The Rapporteur has called for speedy adoption in Parliament without amendments.
