Until 2022, a Vanuatu passport let its holder visit the Schengen area for short trips without applying for a visa. That ended in stages. The European Union did not withdraw access in a single announcement; it used three separate legal instruments over almost three years, each narrowing what the passport could do. Anyone weighing Vanuatu citizenship today should understand the sequence, because it explains both where the passport stands and why the EU acted.
This post sets out the timeline using only the EU's own published texts: two decisions of the Council of the European Union and one regulation adopted by the European Parliament and the Council. Dates are those printed in the instruments.
Before 2022: a bilateral visa-waiver agreement
Vanuatu's visa-free access rested on two things. Its nationals were listed in Annex II of Regulation (EU) 2018/1806, the EU's master list of who needs a visa for short stays, and the EU and Vanuatu had a bilateral agreement waiving short-stay visas. Suspending access therefore meant acting on the agreement first and, later, on the regulation's annexes.
Step one, March 2022: a partial suspension
On 3 March 2022 the Council adopted Decision (EU) 2022/366. It did not cut off every Vanuatu national. Instead it targeted a defined group: holders of ordinary passports issued from 25 May 2015 onwards. For them, the visa waiver was suspended from 4 May 2022.
The cut-off date matters. Our reading: a date-based cut-off left holders of older passports untouched for the time being, while catching every passport issued since mid-2015.
Step two, November 2022: a full suspension from February 2023
Eight months later the Council went further. Decision (EU) 2022/2198, adopted on 8 November 2022, suspended the visa-waiver agreement in whole for all Vanuatu nationals, with effect from 4 February 2023. The same decision repealed the partial suspension from that date, since it had become redundant.
From 4 February 2023, then, the distinction between older and newer passports disappeared. Every Vanuatu national needed a Schengen visa for a short trip. Alongside the Council decisions, the European Commission also suspended the visa exemption under the regulation's own suspension mechanism.
Step three, January 2025: moved to the visa-required list
Suspensions are temporary by nature. The final step made the change structural. Regulation (EU) 2025/11, dated 19 December 2024 and published in the Official Journal on 14 January 2025, moved Vanuatu out of Annex II and into Annex I of Regulation (EU) 2018/1806: the list of countries whose nationals must hold a visa. It entered into force on the twentieth day after publication.
The latest consolidated text of the visa regulation reflects that move: Vanuatu now sits in Annex I.
The timeline at a glance
| Date | Instrument | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 3 March 2022 (in effect 4 May 2022) | Council Decision (EU) 2022/366 | Visa waiver suspended for ordinary passports issued from 25 May 2015 |
| 8 November 2022 (in effect 4 February 2023) | Council Decision (EU) 2022/2198 | Visa waiver suspended for all Vanuatu nationals |
| 14 January 2025 (published) | Regulation (EU) 2025/11 | Vanuatu moved from Annex II to Annex I: visa required |
The UK followed a similar path
Britain acted independently of Brussels. The Home Office imposed a visit-visa requirement on Vanuatu nationals from 15:00 on 19 July 2023, through a Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules, and its explanatory memorandum cited abuse of the citizenship-by-investment scheme as the reason. So within roughly six months in 2023, a Vanuatu passport lost visa-free access to both the Schengen area and the UK.
Why the EU acted
The pattern of the instruments tells most of the story. The first step singled out passports issued after a date chosen to capture recent grants, and the UK said outright that its decision followed abuse of the investment route. The concern on both sides, in our reading, was the screening of people who obtain citizenship without living in the country. The concern has not gone away: the European Commission's December 2025 report on visa-free regimes names the Caribbean investor programmes as a concern to examine, although none of those passports has lost access.
What Annex I means in practice
Annex II of the visa regulation is the list of countries whose nationals may visit the Schengen area without a visa for short stays, defined as no more than 90 days in any 180-day period. Annex I is the opposite list. A Vanuatu national therefore now needs a Schengen visa before every short trip, like any other visa-required nationality.
It also means that holding a Vanuatu passport no longer shortens the path for anyone whose main passport already needs a Schengen visa. For anyone considering a second passport precisely to avoid visa applications for Europe, that was the point of the exercise.
A contrast in the Pacific
Vanuatu's experience is not the only Pacific outcome. Nauru, which also sells citizenship, remains in Annex II: its nationals can still visit the Schengen area visa-free for short stays. The UK, however, added Nauru to its visa list from December 2025, saying the decision was driven by the new citizenship programme. Read together, the two cases show the same concern at work in different capitals, with the UK moving faster than the EU.
What this means if you are considering Vanuatu
Vanuatu still runs its Development Support Program, and its starting price, From USD 130,000 for one person, is the government minimum before agent and professional fees. What has changed is the travel case. For European or British trips, a Vanuatu passport now needs a visa, just like most passports issued outside the EU's visa-free list.
That does not make the programme pointless, but it changes who it suits. Someone mainly seeking a second nationality, rather than easier travel to Europe, may still find it relevant; someone whose main aim is short-notice trips to Paris or London will usually look elsewhere. Our list of where a Vanuatu passport travels without a visa shows the current picture destination by destination, and the Vanuatu programme page covers the rules in full.
Could access come back?
Nothing in the published texts sets a path back. A move from Annex I to Annex II would take another regulation adopted by the European Parliament and the Council, just as the move in the other direction did. No proposal to that effect appears in the official sources we checked. If that changes, this post will be updated with the instrument and its date.
For anyone comparing passports on travel alone, the comparison tool sets Vanuatu next to the Caribbean programmes, whose holders currently keep visa-free Schengen access.