EU Parliament Votes to Permanently End Vanuatu’s Schengen Visa Waiver

The European Parliament has voted 62-1, with two abstentions, to end Vanuatu’s visa-free access to the Schengen Area.

Parliament Rapporteur Paulo Cunha notes this marks “the first time we have removed a third country from the visa-free list.”

The European Commission had temporarily suspended Vanuatu’s visa waiver privileges in March 2022, citing “risks posed by Vanuatu’s investor citizenship schemes.”

The initial suspension affected citizens who obtained passports after May 2015, when Vanuatu launched its Citizenship by Investment Programs (CIPs).

Vanuatu created a National Task Force to address EU concerns, but its reforms fell short of the latter’s expectations.

“The program’s flaws in due diligence, lack of physical presence requirements, and insufficient information exchange create vulnerabilities that can be exploited by individuals with malicious intent,” reads the Parliament’s report.

The European Commission identified the program’s three-month processing time and minimal background checks as critical security threats.

The report says that Vanuatu “has shown inadequate cooperation with the European Commission in addressing concerns about its investor citizenship scheme.”

The report further criticizes Vanuatu’s continuation of visa issuance to Russian citizens during the Ukraine conflict, which “undermines the EU’s persistent international efforts.”

The European Council must now give final approval to implement the measure. Previous support for temporary suspensions suggests the Council will likely adopt the permanent ban.

If the Council approves the measure, all Vanuatu citizens must secure visas before traveling to the EU’s Schengen Area, regardless of their citizenship acquisition method.

Laszlo Kiss, Managing Director at Discus Holdings, says this should serve as a warning for the Solomon Islands. He says they “must be careful and craft robust due diligence processes.”

He also notes that they must “carefully consider whether to accept Russian applicants” because it is “clearly an important issue for the EU.”