Vanuatu citizenship through sponsorship when it’s impossible to transfer money from a personal bank account

Luan and Elna are citizens of South Africa. They decided to get second passports as they wanted to travel to the UK visa-free. For this purpose, the citizenship programs of the Caribbean countries and Vanuatu were suitable, which required a minimum of $100,000 investment.

Vanuatu citizenship by investment program

All the savings of the spouses were in accounts in South African banks. From South Africa, it was allowed to transfer freely only 1 million rands per year, which is about $60,000. The spouses had already used this opportunity to pay for Elna’s medical treatment in Germany. So, Luan and Elna couldn’t pay for participation in the investment program themselves.

Vladlena Baranova,

Head of Legal & AML Compliance Department, CAMS, IMCM

We offered a way out of the spouses’ situation: participation through sponsorship. It is allowed by all citizenship programs.

Luan arranged with a friend who owned a business in the UAE for his company to become the couple’s sponsor and make an investment on their behalf. The peculiarity was that Luan had no connection with the company: usually, sponsorship is approved only in case the investor is among the founders or employees.

We negotiated this situation with the CBI Units of the investment programs. Vanuatu was the only country that allowed our clients to pay for the citizenship program through a third-party company, so Luan and Elna chose it.

Under the Vanuatu CBI Program, an applicant must make a non-refundable contribution to a state fund to obtain a country’s passport. The minimum contribution amount is $130,000. Though, if a spouse is included in the application, which is the case of Luan and Elna, the contribution is $150,000.

The investor and his family members do not need to take language and cultural exams, live in Vanuatu or even come to the country. The entire procedure is remote and takes 1—2 months.

Before signing the Services Agreement, a certified Anti Money Laundering Officer conducted a preliminary Due Diligence check of Luan against international databases of legal and business information.

The check took one day. Luan’s financial history was clean: he had no criminal record, tax debts or visa denials. Immediately after the check, Luan signed a cooperation agreement with Immigrant Invest.

We agreed with the Vanuatu CBI Unit to sponsor through the company and prepared a sponsorship letter. The letter stated that the company would pay all investor’s expenses for participation in the Vanuatu program.

Vanuatu passports have helped the spouses solve their main task. They can now travel to the UK as often as they need without a visa and are allowed to stay in Britain for up to 180 days in a row. And Vanuatu citizenship offers other benefits.

Vanuatu citizenship by investment is the fastest way to a second passport and visa-free travel to 96 countries.

Immigrant Invest is a licensed agent for government programs in the European Union and the Caribbean.