In March 2023, Vanuatu amended its Citizenship Act by replacing the institutions responsible for screening and carrying out due diligence checks on applications and the procedures therefor. In particular, the previous Internal Screening Committee appointed by the Prime Minister has been replaced by three institutions: the Vanuatu Police Force, the Financial Intelligence Unit and the Vanuatu Immigration Services. Those institutions screen and carry out due diligence checks on applications, including by searching Interpol databases, and report to the Secretary-General of the Citizenship Commission. While on the one hand the new procedure appears to mitigate the risk of granting citizenship to persons who are listed on Interpol databases, on the other hand it does not include other elements that are necessary to properly assess whether applicants constitute a security risk. In particular, there is no adequate means for the authorities of Vanuatu to verify the veracity of the documents issued by applicants’ country of origin or residence, such as identity documents and criminal records, since those authorities do not exchange information with applicants’ countries of origin or residence.
Text as published in the Official Journal, reproduced verbatim (including any typographical quirks of the source). For the authentic version, see EUR-Lex.
