Questions About the Form and the Application

That depends entirely on your goals. Its main draws are speed, a zero-income-tax environment, and the security of a second passport. A real asset for global diversification. However, since visas are now required for the UK and Schengen Area, its value for pure mobility is lower than Caribbean alternatives, with visa-free access to just 88 countries.

The minimum non-refundable contribution for the Development Support Programme (DSP) is US$130,000 for one person. It then rises to US$150,000 for a couple and US$180,000 for a family of four. On top of that donation, you must budget for a non-refundable US$5,000 due diligence fee, plus other essential government and agent fees.

The key benefits are:

• Speed: It's one of the quickest CBI programmes in the world.
• Taxes: The system is highly favourable, with no income, inheritance, or capital gains tax.
• Flexibility: Dual citizenship is allowed, so you don't have to renounce your original nationality.
• Security: You gain a passport from a politically neutral, Commonwealth member country.

Yes, absolutely. Vanuatu is a signatory to the OECD's Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and has been since June 2018. It automatically exchanges financial account information with other member countries to fight tax evasion. You should never consider it a place to hide assets.

Rejection. If the FIU check fails, your application is denied, and the US$5,000 due diligence fee is gone for good. That's why a preliminary internal check is so critical—it allows us to spot and fix potential red flags before your file and non-refundable fees are formally submitted to the government.

It is a discrepancy, which means it must be explained rather than ignored. Transliteration conventions differ between countries and have changed over time, so this is common and entirely innocent. It is resolved either by an explanatory affidavit or by obtaining a corrected document, and both take time — which is why the comparison should be done by you, at the outset, rather than by the Financial Intelligence Unit weeks later.

Some can and some cannot, and the answer changes with the document and the jurisdiction certifying it. Declarations requiring notarisation generally need wet signature in the presence of the notary. Your agent will specify which is which; assuming electronic signature is acceptable throughout is a common way to have a pack returned.

Registries lose records, offices close and archives are destroyed. The route is a certificate of non-availability from the relevant authority, accompanied by secondary evidence — baptismal records, school registration, affidavits from relatives. This works, but it needs to be flagged early because assembling it takes considerably longer than ordering a document that simply exists.

Yes. The threshold commonly applied is six months, and an omitted period of residence found during screening reads as concealment even when it was oversight. Disclose it and obtain the clearance; a short stay that produced nothing adverse is a formality, while an undisclosed one is not.

Corrections are possible but they are not free of consequence: a material change after lodging restarts parts of the review and draws attention to the section corrected. Immaterial corrections — a typo, a transposed digit in a phone number — are handled routinely. The distinction is worth asking your agent about before submitting anything you are unsure of.

A parent or legal guardian, with documentation establishing that relationship or authority. Where parents are separated or one is absent, consent arrangements need evidencing, and this is one of the more frequent causes of a family application stalling.

Usually within three months of lodging, which is why they are among the last documents to obtain rather than among the first. Obtaining them early, while waiting on police clearances, guarantees they will need replacing.

Any document not in English needs certified translation, and the translation must cover the apostille as well as the document body. Doing the translation before the apostille means paying for it twice.

A sequence a stranger can follow from the origin of the money to its present location, with documents that corroborate each step and agree with one another. Salary with matching tax filings is the simplest version. A business sale needs the agreement and the proceeds arriving. An inheritance needs probate or its equivalent. What fails is a balance with no history attached, regardless of size.

For some documents, subject to the notarisation requirements of the jurisdiction involved. It is not a general substitute — certain declarations must be made personally by the applicant. Establish which before relying on it, particularly if you travel frequently.

Yes, almost always. A passport approaching expiry complicates identity verification and may need replacing mid-application, which means redoing the parts of the pack that reference it. Renewing before you start is far cheaper than renewing halfway through.

Possibly, and it is not a bad sign. Requests for clarification mean the file is being examined and that you have an opportunity to answer. A refusal, by contrast, arrives without a preceding question and without reasons.

A pack returned for correction before the due diligence stage generally does not incur a second government fee, though agent charges may apply. An application refused after due diligence is a different matter: reapplying means a fresh file and a fresh non-refundable fee.

Several, to a specification covering size, background, expression and recency, and they are a surprisingly common reason for a pack to be handed back. Have them taken professionally against the stated requirements rather than cropped from something existing.