IMMIGRATION BY INVESTMENT

Vanuatu’s citizenship by investment programs have grabbed headlines over the last week chiefly for two reasons: First, because the government had signed an exclusive agreement with one of its Master Agents to handle applications from stateless investors. Second, because the country’s Deputy Prime Minister told Radio New Zealand that the government was preparing to issue yellow passports to those naturalizing via investment (as opposed to the ordinary green one issued to natural-born ni-Vanuatu), a statement that drew fervent reactions from the RCBI-community.   In a press statement issued today, prepared especially for IMI, the Chairman of Vanuatu’s Citizenship Commission, Ronald Warsal, for the first time...

IMMIGRATION BY INVESTMENT NEWS 2020

Increased demand for economic citizenship of Vanuatu has given the cyclone-battered south pacific island a massive financial boost, achieving a record US$33.3 million surpluses in the first half of 2020 and marking a 32% year-on-year increase in citizenship-related revenues, exceeding, by August, its annual projection.   These record revenues of 3.8 billion Vatu (US$33.3 million) created courtesy of the country’s Citizenship by Investment programme, comes at a time when such funds are desperately needed to boost Vanuatu’s fragile economy, which has been recently doubly battered, first by the coronavirus pandemic (with many losses in tourism) and then by the category five...

IMMIGRATION BY INVESTMENT NEWS 2020

What is the difference between a disposable tourist and a real citizen? The simple answer is constitutional protection. Indeed, without clearly written and time tested constitutional protections, your citizenship is only a temporary travel pass exposed to the caprices of local politicians, foreign governments, assertive media, or anyone else who can throw their weight around and who wants to take a crack at you.   Before committing to a glossy CBI program advertisement, investors have to do competent due diligence on their preferred CBI program, which includes reading the applicable revocation clause in the country’s constitution and/or pertinent regulation. Independent...

IMMIGRATION BY INVESTMENT NEWS 2020