Vanuatu Citizenship: Contribution to a Public Fund through a Third Party

In June 2021, Viktor M. reached out with a clear goal: obtaining Vanuatu citizenship. Although he didn’t specify why he needed a passport from this particular country, he wasn’t open to considering any other options.

He was divorced, had no children, and planned to participate in the program alone.

Viktor had previously sought assistance from other specialists, but the process hadn’t moved beyond consultations. Moreover, they had tried to discourage him from pursuing Vanuatu citizenship, suggesting alternative options instead.

We explained the entire procedure to Viktor, emphasizing the importance of proving his financial stability to the Vanuatu government by submitting documentation showing $250,000 in assets, even though the required investment amount was only $130,000.

In June, our lawyer began collecting the necessary documents, and within a month, the entire set was ready. By then, Viktor had questions about how to transfer the investment funds to Vanuatu, as he was aware that direct payments in U.S. dollars were temporarily suspended. He was unsure how to proceed with his foreign currency accounts in Russia.

The process had indeed changed, and now the investment had to be made in Australian dollars, which couldn’t be transferred directly from Russia. However, under program rules, the investment could be made not only by the applicant but also by third parties or legal entities.

We used this option, and the funds were transferred not from Viktor’s account but from his ex-wife’s account in a European bank. The transactions were routed indirectly, going through the account of a licensed agent in Hong Kong.

There were two payments in total. The first, for $5,000, covered the due diligence check. A week later, after Viktor received a positive response, we made the main investment payment of $130,000 to the Vanuatu Development Fund.

The wait for approval took just over a month.

In August, Viktor took the oath online (via Zoom). His passport was then discreetly delivered to him in Russia.

Outcome of the Case

Viktor successfully obtained his Vanuatu passport, as he wanted. The entire process took two months under the investment citizenship program.