PRESS STATEMENT



Vanuatu Citizenship Due Diligence Checks

This press release is to clarify the process of due diligence checks that are conducted by the FIU on behalf of the Vanuatu Citizenship Office.

With reference to clause 6(1)(a)(ii) of the Citizenship (Development Support Program) (Amendment) Regulations Order No. 39 of 2020, a designated agent must ‘provide the FIU with the applicant’s valid passport, police or judicial clearance from his or her state of origin and such other documents as may reasonably be requested by the FIU or the International Specialist Firm’.

Using the applicant’s valid passport as the formal identification document, the FIU due diligence check conducted is to confirm whether the applicant has no criminal record or past convictions pursuant to Section 4 (1)(d) of the Citizenship (Development Support Program) Regulation Order No. 215 of 2016.

Upon completion of checks the screening committee is informed and it is up to their discretion to review and consider the application prior to presenting it to the Citizenship Commission for consideration whether or not to approve the application for Citizenship.

Furthermore, not only does FIU conduct due diligence checks but upon receipt of any adverse information such as on-going investigations or pending trials we inform the Citizenship Office to assist them to make their decision knowing all the facts about the applicant even if the applicant has no criminal conviction/record.

Therefore, in relation to the article published in The Guardian, initial checks conducted on the names mentioned in there did not bring up any adverse findings against the persons. Nevertheless, follow-up enhanced due diligence checks conducted revealed new adverse findings against the respective names which were only recently published almost a year after the first checks were conducted and a clearance had already been provided to the Citizenship Office.