Vanuatu Development Support Program (DSP)
- Processing time
- 1–2 months
- Physical presence
- None. No visit, residence or interview is required before or after grant — the process is fully remote.
- Family
- Spouse, dependent children, and — a Vanuatu particularity — dependent parents, subject to the current age and dependency rules of the Citizenship Office.
Investment routes
Contribution
From $130 000
- Capital
- Non-refundable
DSP contribution for a single applicant, as commonly reported for 2026. On top sit due diligence, processing and agent fees, so the real single cost is higher than the headline — budget closer to 150,000–165,000 USD all-in.
Contribution
From $180 000
- Capital
- Non-refundable
DSP contribution for a family of four (main applicant, spouse, two children), as commonly reported for 2026. Additional dependants raise the figure; confirm the current schedule with the Citizenship Office.
Limits and drawbacks
- Mobility has collapsed, and this is the decisive point: the European Union suspended visa-free Schengen access for Vanuatu passport holders, Switzerland has required a visa since 4 February 2025, and the United Kingdom also requires one. If your goal is visa-free travel to Europe, this passport no longer delivers it.
- The headline contribution is not the real cost: due diligence, government processing and agent fees push a single applicant well above the 130,000 USD figure — budget 150,000–165,000 USD all-in.
- Because approval is fast and remote, Vanuatu has drawn heightened international scrutiny over due diligence; expect thorough source-of-funds checks, and confirm current eligibility for your nationality directly with the Citizenship Office.
- Exact contribution amounts and fees have changed repeatedly; verify the current schedule on vancitizenship.gov.vu before relying on any figure.
How many countries can a Vanuatu passport still enter visa-free?
- What the official source says
- The Citizenship Office promotes visa-free access to a large number of destinations, a figure that predates the European suspensions and is not updated for them.
- What practitioners report
- Passport-power indices have downgraded Vanuatu materially since the EU, Switzerland and UK moves; the practically useful count today is well below the headline once Schengen and the UK are removed.
- What is not settled
- No single authoritative, current list reconciles the marketing figure with the post-suspension reality. Treat any visa-free count for Vanuatu as provisional, and check the specific countries you care about before relying on them.
Official sources