Vanuatu passport benefits and visa free countries in 2026

A passport in a few months, and the Greek golden visa, closed to Russians since 2022, is open again: you apply as a Vanuatu citizen. What a Vanuatu passport really gives: European residency, banks and brokers, travel, cost and obligations back home.

Under Vanuatu's own regulations, the financial intelligence unit screens an applicant within 48 hours, the citizenship certificate is due within 90 days of approval, and an urgent passport is printed in 3 days. Few second passports anywhere come faster. Yet in 2026 Russians do not buy it for travel: on visa-free access, the Vanuatu passport is weaker than the Russian one.

The real reason is different. Since 2022 Greece has not accepted first-time golden visa applications, that is residence permits for buying property, from Russian citizens. A dual national files on the passport of a country the ban does not cover, and with a Vanuatu passport Russians do get the golden visa. Below is how that works in practice, what it costs, where a second passport helps and where it changes nothing.

How to get Greek residency with a Vanuatu passport

Greece runs the EU's busiest residence-by-investment scheme: in 2025 it approved 8,879 investor applications, almost twice the previous year's total. For Russian citizens that door has been shut since 2022. The Ministry of Migration and Asylum suspended the filing and approval of new applications from Russian and Belarusian citizens until further notice, and later allowed only renewals of permits already issued. Family members of Greek and other EU citizens are exempt.

In April 2026 the ministry issued Circular 1/2026, a set of instructions for migration offices. It kept the ban on Russians and Belarusians and extended it to change-of-purpose applications under Article 12 of the Migration Code (Law 5038/2023). In other words, a Russian citizen cannot switch to a golden visa from a student or work permit either.

What does the Vanuatu passport change? The key thing: Russians holding a Vanuatu passport get the Greek golden visa. The application is filed and assessed as that of a Vanuatu citizen, and the restriction on Russian citizens does not apply to it. The basis is the Circular 1/2026 rule for people with two nationalities: the applicant picks one and uses it for the whole procedure, and may switch later only after losing the first. Russian citizenship is still declared honestly on the form: false information in an application is grounds for refusal and for revoking the permit.

How much you need to invest in Greek property in 2026

Law 5100/2024 raised the thresholds. The transition periods have ended, so new applications in 2026 face the full amounts.

Short-term letting through Airbnb and similar platforms is banned for these homes. Breaking the rule means losing the permit and a $57,000 fine. Ordinary long-term letting is allowed.

Step by step: from a Vanuatu passport to a Greek residence card

1. Vanuatu passport in hand. Filing on the second passport only makes sense once it is issued: a citizenship certificate without a passport is not a travel document for the Greek authorities.
2. Power of attorney for a representative. It is signed before a notary or at a Greek consulate and apostilled; under it Murblz specialists handle the file together with locally licensed partners. From then on almost everything can be done remotely.
3. Greek tax number (AFM) and bank account. The AFM is needed for the purchase, the account for payment. The price is paid only by bank transfer or crossed cheque, never in cash.
4. Purchase before a notary and registration. The notary certifies the deed and issues a certificate of price and floor area, and the property is registered with the land registry or cadastre. Proof that registration was requested is enough to file.
5. Health insurance for everyone. The minimum under a 2024 joint ministerial decision: $12,000 a year for hospital care, $1,700 for outpatient care, $17,000 for disability caused by an accident, with a co-payment of no more than 20%.
6. Online filing. The representative files through the ministry platform and pays a fee of about USD 2,300. The applicant receives a certificate of application: it allows lawful stay in Greece until the decision but not travel to other Schengen countries.
7. Biometrics in person. Fingerprints and photo are taken in Greece within 12 months of filing. This is the only mandatory visit. The card costs about USD 20.
8. Decision and a 5-year card. It is renewed for another 5 years as long as you own the property.

Timing depends on the queue, not on the passport. The Ministry of Migration reported 29,273 files awaiting a decision at the end of July 2026 (investors and family members combined), down from more than 52,000 at the start of 2025. New applications in the first seven months of 2026 totalled 3,086, 39% fewer than a year earlier, and decisions now outpace new filings (ministry data).

Family and the rules of living with a Greek permit

One application can cover a spouse or registered partner, children under 21 and the parents of both spouses. Each adult family member pays about USD 170; children under 18 pay nothing. You do not have to live in Greece: there is no minimum stay, and absence does not block renewal.

The permit does not allow employment or self-employment. You may hold shares and sit on a board as a non-executive member, but you may not act as a managing director or legal representative (Circular 1/2026). With the card you can spend up to 90 days in any 180 in other Schengen countries.

Worked example: a $460,000 home for a family of four

Example for a couple with two children under 18, a property outside Attica and the large islands, with the tax base equal to the contract price.

In Greece the tax base is the cadastral (objective) value or the contract price, whichever is higher. Notary and registration fees come on top and depend on the property. We quote the cost of our support after reviewing your documents.

The main risk on the horizon is tax. On 6 September 2026 Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced, and Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis then detailed, that transfer tax on homes bought by citizens of countries outside the EU and the EEA (European Economic Area: the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) will rise from 3% to 15% (15.45% with the surcharge) from 1 July 2027. The law has not been passed yet. If it is adopted as announced, the tax in our example would rise to about $70,000. A Vanuatu passport does not help here: Vanuatu is not in the EU either.

What changes when you file with a Vanuatu passport instead of a Russian one

The bottom line is simple. A Vanuatu passport removes the formal barrier at the entrance to the programme, but it does not make you Greek, European or anything other than a Russian citizen. Everything in EU sanctions that hinges on Russian citizenship keeps applying until you hold the Greek permit itself. Details on the programme and regions are on our Greek golden visa page; property selection is covered under Greek property for residency.

Which other investor residence permits are open to Vanuatu citizens

Greece is not the only country where a Russian passport closes the door and a Vanuatu one formally opens it. There are cases that cut the other way too: Italy has explicitly excluded dual nationals if one of their nationalities is Russian.

Without large investments, Europe still offers income-based visas. Portugal's D7 for passive income requires at least $1,100 a month for the main applicant (the 2026 minimum wage), plus 50% of that for a spouse and 30% for each child, and the D8 for remote work about $4,200 a month. These are not investor programmes: you have to live in the country. For the wider picture, see European golden visas in 2026 and our overview of residence permits by country.

How fast you can get a Vanuatu passport in 2026

The time limit for each stage is written into the regulations of the DSP (Development Support Program), Order No. 33 of 2019. It is the main investment route: a non-refundable contribution to the budget, with no relocation, language test or exam. Decisions are made by the Citizenship Commission, and applications can only be lodged through a designated agent listed by the Citizenship Office, the government's citizenship office.

The regulations contain no official fast track for citizenship itself, and the Commission sets its own meeting schedule. What can be accelerated is everything around it: the dead time between stages. Since 16 January 2025 the FIU has worked under a new procedure and does not start work on incomplete files. Every return for missing papers costs weeks.

Our expedited service is built around that. We assemble the file before submission so that it clears the FIU the first time: we reconcile the spelling of names across all documents, prepare the CV and the source-of-funds section, and order certificates and apostilles in advance. We work through a designated agent from the official list, the contribution can be paid in full at once (the regulations allow it), and the passport is ordered at the urgent rate. Programme details are on our Vanuatu citizenship page; for the money section see our article on source of funds.

What can stop the process. Under the regulations, any criminal conviction means refusal. Nationals of restricted countries are accepted only if they have not lived there for 5 years and hold permanent residence elsewhere. Russia is not on that list: in March 2026 the office sent agents a memo barring Russian and Sudanese nationals, but two days later Commission chairman Charlie Maniel withdrew it as issued in error. Rules here change fast, so work from the documents in force on the day you file.

How much a Vanuatu passport costs under the government programme

The Citizenship Office's official table sets the DSP contribution from USD 130,000 per person. Under the 2019 regulations this is the minimum price below which an agent may not sell the programme, and at least USD 80,000 of it goes to the budget. Small fees set in the local currency are converted into dollars at the Reserve Bank of Vanuatu rate and rounded up.

Worked example for a couple with children aged 8 and 12: USD 180,000 contribution, USD 5,000 FIU check, about USD 45 application fee, about USD 340 for four certificates, about USD 430 for two urgent adult passports and about USD 120 for two child passports. That is about USD 185,935 in government payments. On top come support fees, translations, apostilles and a trip to give biometrics.

If the Commission refuses, the first 25% of the contribution is not refunded. A background check before filing therefore saves money, not just time.

Vanuatu passport visa free countries

The Vanuatu passport opens 86 destinations without a prior visa, the Russian passport 114. In 2022 Vanuatu had 135: the EU fully suspended visa-free travel from 4 February 2023 and, with Regulation (EU) 2025/11, reimposed the visa requirement for good from 3 February 2025; the UK introduced visas on 19 July 2023. To travel to Greece for biometrics you need an ordinary Schengen visa.

For a Russian citizen, the Vanuatu passport adds 13 destinations, Singapore being the notable one. The rest the Russian passport already covers, and the UAE, Turkey and China are even easier with it. How passports compare worldwide is covered in our passport ranking 2026.

Bank and brokerage accounts with a Vanuatu passport

The most common misconception is that a second passport lifts EU sanctions restrictions. It does not. Article 5b of Council Regulation (EU) 833/2014 bars EU banks from accepting deposits from Russian nationals once their total at one bank exceeds EUR 100,000 (about $120,000). In its official FAQs the European Commission says plainly that if the second nationality is not that of an EU or EEA country or Switzerland, the ban applies. A Vanuatu passport does not qualify for the exemption.

What does lift the cap is citizenship of the EU, EEA or Switzerland, or a temporary or permanent residence permit in one of those countries. So for European banks the useful document is not the Vanuatu passport itself but the Greek residence card it helps you obtain. Article 5f follows the same logic: Russian nationals without an EU permit may not be sold securities denominated in EU currencies issued after 12 April 2022, or fund units exposed to them. Switzerland has adopted a similar CHF 100,000 (about $130,000) cap with the same exemptions.

Outside the EU and Switzerland, in the UAE, Hong Kong or Singapore, there is no statutory nationality-based cap; the bank's or broker's internal policy decides. But KYC (know your customer checks) everywhere asks for all nationalities and all tax residences. The Vanuatu passport carries two reputational handicaps: back in 2018 the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) listed Vanuatu's schemes as potentially high-risk for the CRS (Common Reporting Standard, the automatic exchange of account data), and on 17 February 2026 the EU Council kept Vanuatu on its tax blacklist. Russia is on the same list. Bank selection for your profile is covered under personal accounts abroad.

Concealing Russian citizenship from a bank or broker is not an option. An account opened that way is closed at the first review, and in the EU circumventing sanctions is now a crime: Directive (EU) 2024/1226 required every member state to make it a criminal offence. If your assets are already frozen, see our guide to unblocking brokerage assets.

Taxes: a passport does not change tax residence

Vanuatu has no personal income tax, capital gains tax or inheritance tax (Vanuatu's investment promotion agency). But tax follows where you live, not your passport. If you spend 183 days or more a year in Russia, you remain a Russian tax resident and pay personal income tax on worldwide income. The CRS also works by tax residence: the bank reports to the country where you are resident, whatever passport you showed. How to count the days is explained in our article on tax residence and the 183-day rule.

What a Russian citizen with a second passport must do

• Notify the Interior Ministry. Under Citizenship Law 138-FZ, a second citizenship must be reported within 60 days. Failing to file is a crime under Article 330.2 of the Russian Criminal Code: a fine of up to $2,400 or up to 400 hours of compulsory work. Late or incomplete notice is an administrative offence under Article 19.8.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences.
• Report foreign accounts. Russian tax residents notify the tax service when they open accounts abroad and report the flow of money through them.
• Disclose all nationalities to banks, brokers, consulates and migration services. A Vanuatu passport does not cancel Russian citizenship, and Russia does not end it either. How dual citizenship works is covered in dual citizenship in 2026.

The pitfalls of a Vanuatu passport

• Rules change without warning. In 2025-2026 the authorities suspended individual programmes, publicly cancelled passports already issued, and imposed and withdrew a ban on Russians within two days. The Commission may revoke citizenship obtained by deception.
• The Greek route rests on practice, not statute. No official text stating that Russian dual nationals may file on their second passport is publicly available. If Greece clarifies the rule, the plan will have to change.
• EU sanctions are tied to Russian citizenship. Until you hold an EU residence permit, the Vanuatu passport does not lift them, and Italy has closed its programme to dual nationals altogether.
• Reputation with banks. Vanuatu is on the EU tax blacklist and on the OECD list of high-risk schemes. Expect more questions from banks, not fewer.
• A refusal costs money. 25% of the contribution is not refunded after a refusal, and agent fees and documents are already paid.
• Fraudsters. Applications go only through designated agents. A discount below USD 130,000 per person or a promise of a diplomatic passport is a reason to walk away.

Who a Vanuatu passport suits and who it does not

It suits a Russian citizen with $460,000 or more to invest who needs Greek residency and a way to file an application closed to Russian passport holders. Frequent travellers to Singapore who want a backup document in case of trouble with the Russian passport. Anyone who values speed: Vanuatu has no residence, language or exam requirements.

It does not suit anyone expecting visa-free travel to Europe, the UK or the USA. Anyone hoping to get around sanctions or hide accounts from the tax authorities: that is illegal, and CRS and KYC expose it. Anyone who needs a passport with the right to live and work in the EU: only naturalisation after years of residence or descent gives that. If you need a strong passport with Schengen access, compare Caribbean programmes in Caribbean passports in 2026, bearing in mind that some of them are closed to Russian citizens. If a property-based residence permit without a second passport is enough, see residency through real estate in 2026.

How we can help

We handle the whole chain: second passport, European residency and accounts. Legal representation in Vanuatu and Greece is handled by Murblz specialists together with designated agents and locally licensed partners.

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