For more than a decade Vanuatu was the only citizenship by investment programme in the Pacific. That changed in January 2025 when Nauru, which formally adopted its traditional name, the Republic of Naoero, in August 2026, launched its own contribution programme. Nauru is currently running a discounted $90,000 offer and has attracted a lot of attention as a result.
If you are weighing the two, this is a fair comparison. We are Vanuatu’s government-appointed Master Agent, so we have a view, but the numbers below are drawn from independent sources rather than our own marketing. Where Nauru wins, we say so.
Nauru is cheaper on headline price and has the most generous family definition in the market. Vanuatu is faster, issues a biometric passport, has a stronger passport overall, a 13-year track record, a redeemable investment option and no interview. Nauru is a reasonable choice for a large extended family on a tight budget who already hold a strong passport. Vanuatu is the better choice for almost everyone else, and the gap closes further once Nauru’s discount expires at the end of 2026.
Nauru. The standard contribution is $115,000 for a single applicant or family, plus a $5,000 application fee. Under the Iruwa Initiative, which runs until 31 December 2026, the contribution drops to $90,000. Additional dependents aged 16 and over cost $2,000 each in contribution plus a $2,000 application fee, and siblings carry a further $15,000 each. Agent fees are charged on top. CitizenX, the Swiss platform, quotes an all-in figure of $128,375 for a single applicant at the discounted rate.
Vanuatu. The Development Support Programme is $135,000 for a single applicant, comprising $130,000 government contribution and $5,000 due diligence. The Capital Investment Immigration Programme is $165,000 for a family of up to four, of which $50,000 is a redeemable investment returned after four years, giving an effective cost of $115,000. Through Stanford Knight there are no agent fees; the government pays us directly.
What this means. On raw cash out the door, Nauru at $90,000 is cheaper than Vanuatu today. Once the discount ends, a single applicant pays $120,000 on Nauru before agent fees, against $135,000 on Vanuatu with none. For a family of four, Vanuatu’s CIIP at $115,000 net beats Nauru’s standard price and is within $25,000 of the discount price, with $50,000 of the outlay coming back rather than being donated.
Nauru. The Nauru Program Office cites a three-month official processing time. CitizenX’s real-world estimate is nine months from start to passport in hand, reflecting document preparation, the mandatory interview and passport issuance.
Vanuatu. As little as 45 days from application to passport. CitizenX’s independent estimate is eight weeks official processing and four months end to end. There is no interview.
Vanuatu is at least twice as fast on every measure.
This is a practical point that rarely appears on agent websites. Nauru’s citizenship approval and its passport are handled by different agencies, and clients have reported waits of up to six months between approval and receiving the physical document. The Nauru passport is also a paper-based, non-biometric document.
Vanuatu issues ICAO-compliant biometric e-passports, valid for ten years, and the passport step is built into the timeline of as little as 45 days. Biometric data is captured at a designated centre and the passport is couriered to you. As border systems increasingly expect chipped documents, a non-biometric passport is a growing inconvenience rather than a shrinking one.
This is where the Nauru pitch is most often overstated. Agent websites quote anything from 82 to 132 destinations depending on how they count e-visas and travel authorisations.
Using CitizenX’s figures as a consistent benchmark, Nauru’s passport gives visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 87 destinations, with a passport power score of 52 and 40% world access. Vanuatu’s passport gives access to 90 destinations on the same count, with a score of 55 and 41% world access. Counting visa-on-arrival and e-visa destinations, the Vanuatu passport reaches 100+ countries and territories.
Neither passport has Schengen access. Nauru still has visa-free access to the United Kingdom, which Vanuatu lost in 2023; that is a real advantage for anyone who travels to London regularly. Both give visa-free access to Singapore, Hong Kong and the UAE. Vanuatu also has Russia and Macao; Nauru has South Korea.
In practice the two passports are close on mobility, with Vanuatu slightly ahead overall and Nauru ahead on the UK specifically. Read our full Vanuatu visa-free list for the detail.
Nauru wins this one outright. Since February 2026 Nauru has removed age and dependency restrictions. You can include a spouse or de facto partner, children of any age, parents, grandparents and siblings of either spouse, based on relationship alone. For a large extended family, that is remarkable.
Vanuatu includes spouse, children under 18, children 18–25 in full-time education and dependent parents (50 or over on the CIIP, 55 or over on the DSP). Siblings are not included. On the CIIP, single applicant to family of four is one price; on the DSP, a spouse is $20,000 and a child under 18 is $15,000.
If you need to bring siblings or independent adult children, Nauru is the only one of the two that will do it under one application.
Nauru is a pure donation. The contribution goes to the Treasury Fund for economic and climate resilience projects, including the Higher Ground Initiative to relocate the population away from the coast. It is a worthy cause, but you do not get the money back.
Vanuatu’s CIIP puts $50,000 of your contribution into the Vanuatu Impact Fund, independently managed under a capital preservation policy, targeting 5–6% per annum and supporting more than 300 smallholder farmers and 3,000+ farming families across coffee, cacao, vanilla and kava. After four years the $50,000 is returned with any investment returns, and you receive annual impact reports. Vanuatu’s DSP is a donation like Nauru’s.
If having a portion of your money returned matters to you, only Vanuatu offers it.
Nauru requires an interview with an approved due diligence firm, held virtually or in person. Restricted nationalities are Iran, North Korea, Russia and Belarus by birth, plus Myanmar, Afghanistan, Yemen and Sudan by nationality unless an exception applies. Russian and Belarusian applicants are effectively excluded.
Vanuatu has no interview. Due diligence is conducted by the Financial Intelligence Unit before lodgement. Russian nationals are accepted. Nationals of Iran, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and North Korea are accepted where they can show at least five years’ residence outside their home country.
Both programmes are legitimate and both screen properly. Vanuatu’s process is less demanding of your time, and for Russian applicants Vanuatu is open where Nauru is closed.
Nauru’s programme has been running since 1 January 2025 and is administered under a Henley & Partners mandate. It has not yet been tested by an international review cycle, and the pricing has already been restructured twice in its first eighteen months.
Vanuatu’s programme has run since 2012. It has been through the loss of UK and Schengen access, an EU review, a government fund audit in 2025 and a shift to biometric passports, and continues to process applications in weeks. The legislation was drafted with the involvement of Stanford Knight’s senior team, and our office sits next to the Citizenship Commission in Port Vila.
Track record is not everything, but with a $100,000-plus decision it should count for something.
Neither programme requires you to live in or visit the country. But a passport is a lifelong connection to a place, and the two places could hardly be more different.
Nauru is a single raised coral island of 21 square kilometres with a population of around 12,000. Much of its interior was mined for phosphate through the twentieth century, and the citizenship programme funds the Higher Ground Initiative to relocate the population away from the eroding coastline. Access is by Nauru Airlines via Brisbane. There is little tourism and no expatriate community to speak of.
Vanuatu is an archipelago of 83 islands with a population of around 340,000, three official languages, a legal system based on English common law, and membership of the UN, the Commonwealth, the Pacific Islands Forum and the WTO. Port Vila has international schools, modern healthcare, reliable telecommunications and Australian, New Zealand, French and local banks. Crime is low, the islands are clean and largely organic by default, and there are direct flights from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and New Caledonia. Vanuatu’s foreign policy is “friends to all, enemies to none”, which keeps its passport clear of the geopolitical disputes that increasingly decide where a second citizenship is welcome.
If you only ever want the document, this does not matter much. If you want the option of actually using the citizenship, it matters a great deal.
Both are zero-tax jurisdictions for personal income, capital gains and inheritance. Vanuatu has a longer-established international financial centre, company formation regime and banking sector, and progressive digital-asset regulation. Citizenship in either country does not on its own change your tax residency.
| Vanuatu | Nauru (Naoero) | |
|---|---|---|
| Programme since | 2012 | 2025 |
| Single applicant, all-in | $135,000 (DSP), no agent fees | $95,000 discounted / $120,000 standard, plus agent fees |
| Family of four | $165,000 CIIP, $50,000 returned | $95,000 discounted / $120,000 standard, plus dependent fees |
| Redeemable component | Yes (CIIP) | No |
| Time to passport | As little as 45 days | ~9 months in practice, with reported waits of up to 6 months for the physical passport |
| Passport type | Biometric e-passport, 10-year validity | Paper-based, non-biometric |
| Interview | No | Yes |
| Visa-free destinations (CitizenX) | 90 | 87 |
| Incl. visa-on-arrival and e-visa | 100+ | ~90–100 depending on count |
| UK visa-free | No | Yes |
| Schengen visa-free | No | No |
| Siblings included | No | Yes |
| Russian applicants | Accepted | Excluded |
| Iranian applicants | Accepted with 5+ years’ residence outside Iran | Excluded |
| Syrian, Iraqi, Yemeni applicants | Accepted with 5+ years’ residence outside home country | Yemen excluded; others not listed |
| Crypto payment | Yes, USDT/USDC and major coins | Agent-dependent |
You have a strong primary passport already and want a low-cost backup. You need to include siblings or independent adult children. UK visa-free access matters to you. You are comfortable with a newer programme and a longer, interview-based process, and you can apply before the discount ends.
You want the passport in weeks, not months. You are a Russian national, or from a listed country and have lived outside it for five years or more. You want part of your contribution back. You value a programme with 13 years of history, a Master Agent with a physical presence next to the Commission, and no agent fees. You hold digital assets and want to pay in stablecoins. You are a family of four who wants the whole family included at a fixed price.
Is Nauru now called Naoero?
Yes. Nauru formally adopted its traditional name, the Republic of Naoero, in August 2026. The programme and government are unchanged and most agents still use “Nauru”.
Is Nauru’s $90,000 price permanent?
No. It is a limited offer under the Iruwa Initiative, currently ending 31 December 2026. The standard contribution is $115,000.
Which passport is stronger?
They are close. CitizenX rates Vanuatu at 90 destinations and Nauru at 87. Nauru has the UK; Vanuatu has Russia and Macao. Neither has Schengen.
Can I hold both?
Both countries permit dual and multiple citizenship, so yes.
Which is faster?
Vanuatu, by a wide margin. As little as 45 days against roughly nine months, and the physical passport can take longer still on Nauru.
Is the Nauru passport biometric?
No. It is currently a paper-based, non-biometric document. Vanuatu’s is an ICAO-compliant biometric e-passport.
If you are still deciding, book a confidential consultation and we will tell you straight which programme suits your situation, including if it is Nauru. If you want a figure for your family on Vanuatu, the cost calculator takes under a minute.
+678 756 6666 
