The Vanuatu National Bureau
A new national institution — a Government statutory body created by Act of Parliament to administer the Republic’s status and digital-residency programmes, and to earn from Vanuatu’s sovereignty without ever selling it.
A statutory body of the Republic
At the centre of the Vanuatu National Bureau Bill 2026 is a new Government body: the Vanuatu National Bureau. It is a statutory body corporate — like the Reserve Bank of Vanuatu or the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission — established by, and accountable under, an Act of Parliament. It sits under the responsible Minister and the relevant State Ministry, with the Department of Immigration and the Civil Status Department in their established roles.
The Bureau receives and decides applications, issues the documents, keeps the registers, performs the security and background checks, and reports to the Council of Ministers and to Parliament. It is the sovereign authority for the programmes. A specialist operator — a locally registered company — builds and operates the technology behind it, but the Bureau holds the legal power.
Implementing a decision Government has already taken
The programme was established by the Council of Ministers in Decision N°273 of 6 October 2025, which approved the digital-residency and national-status (non-citizen travel-document) programmes, the Bureau, and the public-private partnership to deliver them — and appointed a Task Force, under the authority of the Prime Minister, to carry it out.
It is also a deliberate correction of course. Vanuatu’s earlier reliance on selling citizenship drew sustained domestic and international criticism — in effect, the commoditisation of the nation’s sovereignty. This programme is the opposite: a pivot from passport-as-commodity to a residency-first, high-integrity model. It offers vetted, compliant, non-citizen status and services, built to international standards and kept under Government oversight.
The Board and the sovereign balance
The Bureau is governed by a Board chaired by an appointee of the Prime Minister, with ex-officio members from the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Management, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. A Director-General, appointed by the Board with the Prime Minister’s approval, serves as chief executive. Partner and industry-expert members contribute technical depth.
Conflicts of interest are managed through a register of interests — and, crucially, the partner’s representatives are excluded from voting on regulatory enforcement and on individual application decisions: the precise areas where sovereign neutrality matters most. Final regulatory power rests with the State.
- Chairperson
- Appointed by the Prime Minister.
- Ex-officio members
- Office of the Prime Minister · Ministry of Finance and Economic Management · Ministry of Internal Affairs.
- Director-General
- Chief executive, appointed by the Board with the Prime Minister’s approval.
- Partner & expert members
- Contribute design and operational expertise — excluded from regulatory and individual-application votes.
The partner builds and runs; the Republic governs
A programme like this needs technology Vanuatu does not currently build in-house: secure identity systems, registries and compliance infrastructure. The Bill therefore provides for a public-private partnership with a specialist operator — Future Citizen Bureau (FCB), a locally registered company with no foreign parent, which has carried the legislative, policy and design work to this point at its own cost.
The partnership runs for an initial term of 25 years, renewable for a further 15 — the standard shape of sovereign infrastructure partnerships worldwide, in exchange for a programme built and operated at no upfront cost to Government. The distinction the Bill draws, and holds, is between sovereign power, which never leaves Government, and service delivery, which the operator provides.
The Government holds — always
- Approval, refusal, suspension and revocation of every application
- Issuance of statuses, documents, IDs and certificates
- Regulatory enforcement and statutory powers
- The law and the programme substance — by Act and regulation
- Guaranteed access to data and systems for sovereign purposes
The partner provides — under contract
- The technology platform, built and financed at its own cost
- Operations to contracted service standards and KPIs
- Compliance tooling, vetting support and customer service
- Source-code custody and transition arrangements for the State
- Step-in and termination safeguards if performance fails
Aligned with the National Sustainable Development Plan 2030
The programme is an instrument of the NSDP’s Economy pillar:
The Bureau at a glance
A one-look fact sheet — print this page for a briefing handout.
- The Bill
- Vanuatu National Bureau Bill 2026 — a framework statute.
- Creates
- The Vanuatu National Bureau — a Government statutory body.
- Programmes
- (1) Vanuatu National Status — with its Non-Citizen travel document. (2) Vanuatu Digital Residency.
- Looking ahead
- A Digital Corporate Registry — enacted as enabling law, opened as a later phase.
- Confers citizenship?
- No — and the Bill says so expressly, in primary law.
- Cost to Government to start
- None upfront — the partner finances the build.
- Revenue model
- Statutory fees and national contributions to the Treasury; administrative fees to the operator — separate, audited channels.
- Who decides applications
- The Government (the Bureau) — always.
- Technology partner
- Future Citizen Bureau (FCB) — locally registered, under a public-private partnership.
- Partnership term
- 25 years, renewable for 15 — with termination and step-in safeguards.
- Integrity
- AML / CFT / KYC, sanctions screening, ICAO Doc 9303, independent audit.
- Parliamentary control
- Programme substance changeable only by Act; annual report and audit to Parliament.
Questions about the institution?
Members of Parliament, officials and institutional partners can request a briefing from the COM-approved Task Force at any time.