By Zebvo Newswire: After being chastised by the EU, the Vanuatu government decided to review, re-assess, and restructure its Citizenship by Investment Programme to provide a robust offering to applicants.

On January 14, 2022, the government of the Republic of Vanuatu declared the entire review and revaluation of the architecture of its CBI (Citizenship by Investment) programmes in terms of its due diligence and marketing. The government also stated that it would conduct extensive background checks on all applicants granted citizenship in the previous six years.

After holding a press release by the government of Vanuatu, they stated that they understand the importance of the programme and its effects on the country, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic and several ongoing disasters, which resulted in a lack of fiscal growth balances.

The programme of CBI (Citizenship by Investment) plays a significant role in the national development and economic stability of the multi-island country. The new structure of the CBI programme will provide safety and protection to overseas residents. Still, it will also bring the programme to the vanguard for strong economic growth. It will also lead the government to take rapid actions to maintain the applicants and facilitate citizenship application processing.

Then, the government formally announced their first multinational collaboration with the due diligence service provider, UK agency “FACT UK” in keeping with the nation’s goal to provide a secure and protected CBI programme.

The CEO of FACT UK, Keiron Sharp, heads a highly skilled staff with extensive international expertise, took training by the FBI Academy, and served as a Head of Economic Crime at Interpol.

“The government welcomes the appointment as a first step toward thoroughly vetting CBI applications.” FACT UK will conduct numerous checks, including boycotts lists, open-source reviews, and on-the-ground assessments. It excels in IP protection, intelligence and computer forensics, and forensic investigation and security verification.

The authority further added that the process of vetting of the country would make sure people who hold high prestige are allowed to invest in the programme of CBI. and to ensure it, the third party firm will carry out comprehensive research on each applicant to disappear any security issues, financial crime or reputation risk.

In an offer to keep overseas standards regarding citizenship by the Investment programme of Vanuatu, will spare no resource to exercise strict vetting.

Previous CBI applicants:

Furthermore, the government of Vanuatu declared that they would conduct diligence checks on all applicants who were given citizenship in the past six years to assure that all applicants are respected and relent with international standards.

However, the government further said they would revoke the citizenship of those who fail in the due diligence procedure conducted by an independent firm’s investigation.

CBI Programme Evaluation:

World’s leading citizenship and marketing solutions firm CS Global Partners has been appointed as “Marketing Service Provider”, which will help the government of Vanuatu re-design the Citizenship by Investment Programme wholly.

Multi-island country declared that it would review the citizenship by the country’s investment programme using a multi-layered approach involving numerous entities like official agents, CBI Units, independent due diligence firms, law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and partner with governments.

According to Vanuatu, it will take all nations safety and security seriously and will not be able to compromise on their safety for individuals seeking citizenship in Vanuatu.

The country has been functioning closely with international partners to ensure that it can perform successfully in the global market.

Moreover, Vanuatu’s Parliament has passed its first Cybercrime Act, owing to technological aid from the Council of Europe’s Global Action on Cybercrime Extended project, which seeks to align its national legislation with international criteria.

However, Vanuatu has had a long relationship with the Council of Europe, participating in over fifteen regional, international, and national capacity-building since 2011.

In addition, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) acknowledged the significance of the Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Program, stating that its revenue accounts for roughly half of the country’s total revenue.

Recently, European Commission had offered partial suspension to all visa release agreements with Vanuatu to address the risk related to citizenships by the Investment programme against all economic passports, which was issued by the year 2015 May 25.

This programme is helpful for the national development and beneficial for the country to dispute natural disasters and, particularly, upliftment of the public, overcome with the challenges of climate change, and other facilities