Vanuatu’s government has officially withdrawn the citizenship and passport it granted to influencer Andrew Tate, a decision confirmed by a Port Vila spokesperson to Australia’s ABC. The revocation overturns the position taken in June 2025, when authorities said a review had found no fault with Tate’s application and announced that no further action would be taken.
Grounds for revocation
The Vanuatu Citizenship Commission can cancel a passport only on three statutory grounds:
- The citizenship was obtained fraudulently.
- The grant contravened the Citizenship Act or the Constitution.
- The holder has failed to comply with the Act’s post‑grant restrictions.
Post‑grant criminal accusations or convictions are not listed as grounds. Fraud cases must be determined by a court; a finding of fraud results in loss of citizenship 30 days after the judgment. The government has not disclosed which of the three grounds it relied on for Tate’s case, and the Citizenship Act provides no appeal mechanism or statutory safeguard against statelessness.
Timeline of Tate’s Vanuatu citizenship
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Feb 2022 | Application moved forward; a UK criminal‑record check was filed on Tate’s behalf. |
| Apr 2022 | Romanian police raided Tate’s Bucharest compound. |
| Dec 2022 | Citizenship granted through the Development Support Program (DSP). |
| Jan 2023 | Vanuatu passport issued while Tate was in pre‑trial custody in Romania. |
| Dec 2024 | Bucharest court returned the indictment to prosecutors over procedural defects; case remains open. |
| Feb 2025 | Travel restrictions lifted; Tate and his brother flew to Florida. |
| Jul 18 2025 | U.S. Marshals arrested the brothers in Miami on a UK extradition request; 38 fresh UK charges filed. |
| Sep 2026 | Vanuatu revokes the citizenship and passport. |
The DSP required a minimum contribution of US $130,000 and was processed by NXT Citizen, a licensed local agency. Tate has previously claimed to hold “seven passports,” but Vanuatu’s is now removed from that list.
Status of Vanuatu’s citizenship‑by‑investment (CBI) programmes
- The DSP, once the fastest and cheapest full‑citizenship route, has come under scrutiny for vetting weaknesses.
- In 2024 the European Union permanently ended Vanuatu’s Schengen visa‑waiver, marking the first removal of a third country from its visa‑free list.
- The government is shifting focus to the Capital Investment Immigration Plan (CIIP), which channels contributions into designated sectors. The CIIP starts at US $115,000 for a single applicant.
As of the latest statement, Vanuatu has not released further details on the revocation decision, and it is unclear whether Tate will contest the action.
Source article: www.imidaily.com
