Moving to Vanuatu in 2026: fast citizenship and zero tax

The government agency responsible for promoting foreign investment sums up the situation in three lines: no income tax or corporate tax for residents, no capital gains tax, no inheritance duties. The rate applicable to profits is 0%².

Vanuatu is therefore one of the few jurisdictions where the absence of direct taxation is complete and claimed as public policy, rather than tolerated as a legacy. It is long-standing and has not seen a shift comparable to that of the Gulf states.

Value added tax, on the other hand, is documented by the Department of Customs and Inland Revenue: its rate is 15%³, and registration is mandatory when taxable transactions in the reference period reach more than VUV 4,000,000⁴.

We do not publish import duties or local business taxation: they do not appear in the official sources we were able to consult. Yet, along with value added tax, these are the country's real levies, since a state without direct tax has to finance itself in other ways.

This last point deserves to be taken seriously. An archipelago without income tax funds its public services through consumption, customs duties and the sale of nationality. The resident therefore does not escape taxation: it simply takes a different form.

For a French national, the rule remains and applies here with particular rigour: the absence of local tax does not end French tax domicile, and there is no tax treaty between France and Vanuatu that would allow a dual residence to be resolved.

Vanuatu also appears repeatedly in international work on non-cooperative jurisdictions. Vanuatu residence or nationality therefore attracts the attention of European banks, which translates very concretely into refusals to open accounts.

Vanuatu is best known for its citizenship-by-investment programme, one of the fastest and least expensive in the world. It is not a residence permit but a naturalisation through a financial contribution.

The citizenship office publishes its fees. The contribution for a single applicant is about $130,000⁵, to which are added due diligence fees of $5,000⁶ payable to the Financial Intelligence Unit.

The total cost for a single person is therefore $135,000⁷, excluding agent fees.

Family amounts are set in tiers: $150,000⁸ for a married couple, $165,000⁹ with one minor child, $180,000¹⁰ with two children, and $10,000¹¹ per additional applicant.

These thresholds are set by a regulatory text, the 2019 order governing the Development Support Program, which prohibits marketing the scheme below the prices it sets. This is a safeguard intended to prevent competition between agents.

The passport obtained gives access to about 95¹² without a prior visa. This figure is decisive: it is far lower than that of Caribbean passports, and it has been severely affected by the loss of the visa exemption that Vanuatu enjoyed with the European Union.

This loss is the most important fact to know. The suspension of the exemption, decided after criticism of the programme's controls, has been made permanent: Regulation (EU) 2025/11 placed Vanuatu on the list of countries whose nationals must hold a visa to cross the external borders of the Schengen area, with effect from 3 February 2025. It is no longer a temporary suspension but a permanent visa requirement. It deprives the Vanuatu passport of its main selling point for an international clientele, and it shows that a mobility advantage acquired through investment can be withdrawn by the unilateral decision of a third state.

For a French national, the benefit in terms of mobility is therefore almost nil: the French passport is far superior. The scheme is aimed at nationals of states whose passports offer little access, and its usefulness must be assessed on that basis.

The Vanuatu land system is unusual and is the first point requiring vigilance: land belongs to customary owners, and a foreigner does not acquire full ownership. He or she acquires a long-term lease, generally granted for several decades.

The remaining term of this lease entirely determines the value of the property, and its renewal requires negotiation with the customary owner, the outcome of which is not guaranteed. A property close to the end of its term can lose most of its value.

Identifying the customary owner is also a source of disputes, as several families may claim the same plot. Local advice independent of the seller is essential, and the verification must cover the legitimacy of the lessor as much as the lease itself.

The market is narrow, concentrated on Port Vila and Luganville, and its liquidity is very low. Cyclone and seismic risk is high: the archipelago regularly ranks among the territories most exposed to natural disasters, and Cyclone Pam showed in 2015 the scale of destruction that is possible.

We do not publish lease registration fees, usual lease terms or insurance costs: they do not appear in our sources.

The cost of living in Vanuatu is that of an isolated Pacific archipelago: local products are affordable, everything imported is expensive, and distance makes every transport more costly.

We do not publish a typical monthly budget: we have not found an official Vanuatu series measuring a basket of expenses comparable to that of an expatriate.

The currency is the vatu, pegged to a basket of currencies. A resident whose income is in euros therefore faces exchange rate exposure, with no hedging mechanism easily accessible locally.

Three items dominate. Healthcare, where local facilities are limited and any serious procedure requires evacuation to Australia or New Zealand — insurance covering this risk is essential and expensive. Schooling, where the international offering is very limited. And air links, which are few and expensive to Europe.

Isolation is the central factor, and it appears in no tax comparison. The journey to France involves two or three stopovers and more than a day of travel, which makes any family ties in Europe difficult to maintain.

1. Clearly distinguish citizenship by investment from actually relocating: the programme does not require residing on site;
2. gauge the real reach of the passport, only about 95¹², since the European visa exemption was withdrawn and a Schengen visa is required;
3. anticipate banking difficulties: Vanuatu nationality complicates the opening of accounts in Europe;
4. for a purchase, have the remaining lease term and the legitimacy of the customary owner checked;
5. handle the departure from France according to its own criteria, in the absence of a France–Vanuatu tax treaty.

The third point is the one that surprises applicants the most. Acquiring a nationality reputed to be discreet produces the opposite of the intended effect with financial institutions, which immediately identify it as a risk factor and strengthen their checks.

We do not publish processing times: we have no official Vanuatu source that is both quantified and dated.

• The absence of direct taxation is real and officially claimed, but the levy is collected through consumption: value added tax is 15%³, and import duties are not documented in our sources.
• The passport opens only about 95¹²: the European visa exemption has been withdrawn, and a Schengen visa has been required since 3 February 2025.
• A foreigner does not acquire the land but a long-term lease: its remaining term determines the value of the property.
• There is no tax treaty between France and Vanuatu.
• The archipelago's exposure to cyclones and earthquakes is among the highest in the world.

Finally, Vanuatu illustrates better than any other destination the fragility of a purchased advantage. The programme is genuine, its fees are public and its timeline reputedly short; but the value of what it delivers depends entirely on decisions taken in Brussels, London or elsewhere, over which neither the buyer nor the archipelago has any control. For a French national, who already holds one of the best passports in the world, this programme brings nothing he or she does not already have, and it adds a lasting banking complication.