The European Council (EC) and Vanuatu authorities have been involved in “enhanced dialogue” and discussions are progressing, to lift the visa requirement imposed by EC, according to a separate section of sixth visa suspension report on Vanuatu published by European Council.
The Commission stated serious deficiencies in the citizenship by investment scheme run by Vanuatu has led to the suspension of visa waiver. As of March 2021, Vanuatu issued 10,500 passports with with no previous connection to Vanuatu, issuing positive decisions on the vast majority of applications with extremely low rejection rate.
According to EC statement “the circumstances which gave rise to the partial suspension were not remedied.” has led to imposing partial visa suspension on Vanuatu. The partial suspension only blocked Vanuatu citizens of Vanuatu holding an ordinary passport issued by Vanuatu as of 25 May 2015 visiting the Schengen area visa free. Now the new visa requirement effects all Ni-Vanuatu citizens.
“The explanations provided by Vanuatu were not sufficient to mitigate those concerns.”, said the EC. This has led EU to turn “partial suspension” into “full visa waiver suspension” on all Vanuatu citizens.
The EU authorities imposed full visa requirement for all nationals of Vanuatu is suspended from 4 February 2023 to 3 August 2024. This effected all Vanuatu citizens visiting the Schengen area for tourism, business and visiting family and friends.
Timeline of Vanuatu Visa waiver Suspension
Between 2017 and 2021, the Commission expressed serious concerns and warned the government of Vanuatu of the possibility of the visa requirement being reintroduced.
- on 12 January 2022 a proposal for a Council decision to suspend the visa waiver agreement with Vanuatu.
- on 3 March 2022 the decision to “partially suspend” the visa waiver agreement with Vanuatu.
- on 12 October 2022 the Commission proposed a Council Decision on temporary “full suspension” of the agreement from 4 February 2023.
- on 1 December 2022, the Commission adopted a delegated Regulation extending the suspension for all nationals of Vanuatu is suspended from 4 February 2023 to 3 August 2024.
A visa waiver agreement signed between the EU and Vanuatu since 2015. This agreement allows citizens of Vanuatu to travel to the EU without a visa for stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period to encourage people-to-people contacts, boost tourism and invigorate business between the Union and Vanuatu.
The EC decided fully suspend the visa waiver agreement with Vanuatu due to the risks posed by its investor citizenship schemes (‘golden passport’ schemes), which is causing an increased risk to the internal security and public policy of the Member States.
The European Authorities clearly stated, based on careful monitoring and assessment of Vanuatu’s investor citizenship scheme, the EU has concluded that they present serious deficiencies which could pose a risk to the EU, notably due to:
- the extremely low rejection rate, which raises doubts as to the reliability of the security and due diligence screening
- the absence of physical presence or residence requirements, short processing periods and a lack of information exchange with applicants’ countries of origin or residence
- the granting of citizenship to applicants listed in Interpol databases
- the nationalities of origin of successful applicants, which include several countries whose nationals require a visa to enter the EU.
The EU authorities provided an update that in in March 2023, the government of Vanuatu issued an amendment to its Citizenship Act, with the aim of strengthening the security of its investor citizenship scheme. The assessment by the Commission of these legislative amendments is ongoing. It has been agreed that at the next meeting under the enhanced dialogue, Vanuatu will explain in detail the legislative changes in the investor schemes that the government adopted in March.
“The exchanges of information with the authorities of Vanuatu will continue until the Commission considers it has obtained sufficient information to complete the assessment required to determine whether the circumstances which led to the suspension are remedied or still exist. Depending on the outcome of such assessment, the Commission will propose to lift the suspension or to transfer Vanuatu to the list of the visa-required countries”
European Council – Sixth Visa Waiver Suspension Report
Effective 19 Jul 2023, The UK government has further imposed a visas on Vanuatu nationals visiting the UK, canceling the existing visa waiver agreement. All Nationals of Vanuatu now require to apply for a UK visa instead of traveling visa free. A four-week, visa-free transition period was offered for those who hold confirmed bookings to the UK made on or before 1500 BST 19 July 2023.
The Home Office said in a statement ..
“Careful consideration of Vanuatu’s operation of a citizenship by investment scheme has shown clear and evident abuse of the scheme, including the granting of citizenship to individuals known to pose a risk to the UK”
Home Office
The World Citizenship Council has proposed a number of policy changes to the citizenship by investment scheme run by Vanuatu government.
