Vanuatu has agreed to develop mechanisms that distinguish citizenship by investment from other forms of citizenship under a new ten-year agreement with Australia. The commitment appears in Article 6 of the Nakamal Agreement, signed in Canberra by Vanuatu Prime Minister Jotham Napat and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
The agreement says Australia will provide “enhanced mobility arrangements for Vanuatu visitors to Australia,” while Vanuatu will “develop effective mechanisms to differentiate citizenship by investment from other forms of citizenship.” Both governments also agreed to review the mobility arrangements annually.
The agreement does not define what “enhanced mobility” means. It does not create a visa waiver, name a specific visa category, or specify how Australian border authorities will treat different categories of Vanuatu citizens. Vanuatu’s Daily Post reported that the pact did not deliver the visa-free travel status Napat had sought.
Napat had previously refused to sign the agreement unless Australia granted visa-free travel, arguing that the pact had to benefit both countries. Australia has long been cautious about relaxing travel rules for Pacific nationals because of overstay concerns, and Vanuatu’s citizenship by investment program added to those concerns.
Outside the agreement text, Australia reportedly assured Vanuatu that it would return to the 2026–27 Pacific Engagement Visa ballot with an allocation of 150 places. Vanuatu had been dropped from the eligible list earlier in June. The permanent residence ballot opens for applications on July 1.
A reversal from Vanuatu’s earlier position
For much of the previous decade, Vanuatu moved toward treating investor citizenship the same as other citizenship categories.
In April 2019, Vanuatu removed the word “honorary” from citizenship granted under its Development Support Program. Promoters of the change described it as removing the impression that investor citizenship was a separate category that could later be treated differently.
A 2020 proposal to issue economic citizens a different-colored passport faced objections and did not proceed.
Article 6 of the Nakamal Agreement now commits Vanuatu to build a distinction it had previously worked to remove.
Travel access pressure
Vanuatu’s citizenship by investment programs have faced growing pressure from major travel partners.
In December 2024, the European Union removed Vanuatu from the Schengen visa-exempt list, citing security and migration risks linked to the investor citizenship program. It was the first time the bloc had removed a third country from its visa-free list.
The United Kingdom imposed a visa requirement on all Vanuatu citizens in July 2023 on similar grounds.
Despite those losses, Vanuatu’s citizenship by investment programs have continued to generate revenue. The minimum contribution remains US$130,000 for a single applicant, and all three of Vanuatu’s CBI programs process applications within weeks.
What remains unclear
The agreement requires Vanuatu to be able to distinguish between citizenship categories. It does not say whether Australia will treat those categories differently at the border.
Practitioners interpret the wording differently.
Rosalind Cox, a director at Stanford Knight & Partners, described Article 6 as an administrative measure rather than the creation of different classes of citizens. Her view is that the measure is intended to help Vanuatu distinguish within its own records between indigenous, naturalized, and investor citizens.
According to this interpretation, the differentiation is a record-keeping and database commitment designed to help Vanuatu answer security queries more efficiently. Cox described the outcome as positive for clients, arguing that quicker responses to security checks could help well-founded applications move more smoothly.
Manpreet Kataria, managing director of Alpha Immigration Associates, took the opposite view, describing the move as a dangerous precedent. He argued that dividing citizens by how they acquired status undermines the principle that citizenship should be absolute and indivisible.
Kataria also warned against focusing too heavily on visa-free travel. He pointed to Vanuatu’s loss of Schengen and UK access as examples of how mobility can change, and argued that investors should weigh wealth preservation, security, and a sovereign Plan B above visa waivers.
Next steps
The agreement will not take effect until both governments exchange notes confirming that their domestic requirements have been completed.
The first annual review will be the earliest practical test of what “enhanced mobility” and “differentiate” mean in practice.
Source article: www.imidaily.com
