EU Commission Proposes End to Vanuatu’s Visa-Free Travel

The Commission is proposing today to permanently re-introduce the visa requirement for citizens of Vanuatu.

This proposal builds on the Commission’s efforts to address irregular migration and security challenges linked to visa-free travel, in particular those deriving from investor schemes operated by visa-free countries. These risks include the infiltration of organised crime, money-laundering, tax evasion and corruption.

It follows extensive engagement with the authorities of Vanuatu since May 2022, when the Commission assessed that Vanuatu’s investor citizenship schemes represented a risk to the security of the EU and its Member States.

Vanuatu has adopted a number of legislative changes to address the EU’s concerns. However, the Commission considers that these have not been sufficient to mitigate the security risks of its investor citizenship schemes that remain in operation.

As a result of the temporary suspension, nationals of Vanuatu already require a visa in order to travel to the EU for short stays (of up to 90 days in any 180-period). This proposal will make this requirement permanent.

Next steps

As the final deadline of the temporary suspension is on 3 August 2024, the Commission is now proposing to permanently reintroduce the visa requirement for Vanuatu nationals.

It is now for the European Parliament and the Council to examine this proposal and decide whether to permanently reintroduce the visa requirement for Vanuatu nationals.

Background

The EU currently has a visa-free regime with 64 non-EU countries and entities. Nationals of these countries can enter the Schengen area for short stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period without a visa.

The past years have shown that significant challenges related to irregular migration and security can derive from visa-free travel. One such challenges derives from investor citizenship schemes operated by visa-free countries.

In October 2023, the Commission proposed to revise the Visa Suspension Mechanism to better address situations of abuse of visa-free travel; including those derived by the operation of investors citizenship schemes in visa-free countries. The proposal is currently under examination by the European Parliament and the Council.