The Vanuatu Citizenship investment program has created 1,200 new economic citizens bringing VT 17.7 billion (US$ 154m) revenues to the country.
This was revealed by Samuel Garae, Secretary General (SG) of the Vanuatu Citizenship Commission, during Coffee and Controversy show on 27 March 2019. This was reported by Dailypost of Vanuatu
Vanuatu is a pacific island country in the south pacific ocean with a population of 270,000 . The Republic of Vanuatu was founded in 1980. Vanuatu has GDP of $820 million in 2018.
Vanuatu passport power increased in 2019 Henley passport rankings with visa free access to 129 countries, ranking 39th powerful passport in the world, with visa free travel to United Kingdom, EU schengen area, Russia etc..
Vanuatu CIP revenues added 18% to 2018 GDP. The CBI economic citizens of Vanuatu form only 0.4% of the diaspora population who do not live in the country.
The CIP since 2014 offers citizenship skipping 10-year residency requirement for those who have the money to pay for this new pathway.
SG Garae explained the program is open to people from all nations around the world
The revenue generating program began in 2014 under the Capital Investment Immigration Program (CIIP), said SG Garae.
However, the program was suspended on March 21, 2016 for not generating revenue as anticipated.
The Vanuatu Development Support Program (VDSP) came into existence after the nation was badly hit by Cyclone Pam. The Government at the time believed it was necessary to generate extra revenue to help Vanuatu recover from the aftermath by inviting people with money to become Ni – Vanuatu citizens and hopefully invest in the country.
SG Garae explained the program is open to people from all nations around the world, as long as they have the money to pay for the fee.
The SG has clarified that it is not actually the passport that is being sold as alluded to on the streets but it is the citizenship that interested people pay to obtain.
He said one cannot have a passport until he/she becomes a citizen. He also said that in the VDSP only those who are 18 and above can be granted citizenship. So, if a family migrate to Vanuatu under this program only the parents and kids 18 or above could become citizens.
SG Garae said that these new citizens have the same rights as indigenous and naturalised citizens, however they are not allowed to vote or stand for any election.
Mr Garae clearly points out that a lot of these new citizens would not even have to live in Vanuatu upon being granted citizenship as a lot of them only want the green Vanuatu passport to be able to enter other nations as Vanuatu has a clean record internationally.
