The Government of Vanuatu has decided to make remarkable changes in the Citizenship by Investment Programme to ensure that it leads to the due-diligence and strong market growth.
The IMF: International Monetary Fund has considered the significance of the Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Programme; the earnings from the Programme correlate to half of the nation’s revenue.
As per the present scenario, the Republic of Vanuatu has been affected by widespread disease and natural calamities, which has left the condition of the place in a very devastating manner as the growth rate has been reduced as well as fiscal deficit.
The present Government is working on reviewing and checking the Programme structure to make sure they are substantial providing economic stability to the residents. On the other hand, they provide the services of security and protection towards the international community.
The nation officials comprehended the impact and the consequence of the Programme, they have decided to robust the citizenship procedure and powerful due-diligence enthusiastically.
Meanwhile, the European Commission has criticized Vanuatu’s CBI Programme as it has recommended on January 12, 2022, for a complete suspension of visa-free travel because of inter-governmental due diligence of applications.
As per the recommendation, everyone who was a recipient of Vanuatu’s passports after May 2015 will not be allowed to have visa-free travel to European countries.
According to the European Union’s recent statement, the nation’s vetting system has been considered lacking in several security protocols during applications.
The renowned UK-based service provider agency, FACT and the Vanuatu Government has officially finalized the agreement to accomplish the country’s objective.
The due diligence global company- FACT has been specified for providing vital services. The Fact UK Chief Executive Officer, Kieron Sharp, leads a highly-skilled team. He is known for his experiences as well as he has trained in the FBI Academy. Moreover, he also headed the economic crime at Interpol.
The Vanuatu legislation has welcomed the recent appointment as the first endeavour for vetting Citizenship By Investment (CBI) applications entirely.
The FACT UK has promised thorough checking, proper covering of restrictions lists, open-source reviews, and on the ground assessment. It has also assured expanding further in IP protection, intelli8, cyber forensics, and forensic scrutiny and security verification.
The Government of Vanuatu has ensured appropriate due diligence that only investors with a good reputation will get citizenship. There will be a proper security test for the investor, including financial crime and reputational risks. During the due diligence process, Vanuatu’s officials have mentioned that no resources will be left spared to ensure the protection and safety of the Island and the international community.
Furthermore, the Government is deciding to execute the proper due diligence security checks on all the investors respectively, particularly to the individuals who have gained citizenship in following 2015, by getting the confirmation that only respectable investors were approved.
If, in any case, the investors were not able to meet the expectations to meet the points for completing the due diligence process, their citizenship will likely be cancelled.
The country has pledged to use a multi-layered approach which includes the numerous entities involving government-authorized agents, Citizenship by Investment Units, an independent due diligence firm, law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies with the fellow governments.
To conduct a thorough review of the CBI programme and re-establish its protocols, brings the Programme in sequence with internationally accepted standards.
In addition, to help Vanuatu, CS Global Partners has been specified as a market service provider which will help in reconstructing country’s citizenship Investment programme.
The Government officials mentioned, “We are pleased to share the information about the significant steps that the country has taken to support the application and the verification procedure of our Citizenship by Investment programme. After the prolonged selection process of onboarding strategic partners, we are looking forward to re-shape the CBI Programme to be admiringly respected and acknowledged worldwide. We prefer the protection and the safety of all the countries as it is the basic priority. We will not settle for less during the security checks of the applicants that are looking to gain citizenship in Vanuatu.”
