Let me tell you a story about a media beat-up…
Last month a prominent news organisation which tends to publish sensational stories published a series of articles along the lines of “Fugitives, politicians and disgraced business people buying Vanuatu passports”
A careful reading of the article reveals, as expected, that it's heavy on fluff and innuendo and light on facts. It turns out that after months of scrutinising over 2,000 people who purchased Citizenship By Investment in Vanuatu they could put forth only one person who has actually been convicted of committing a serious crime. That's 0.0005%
Oh, they found a handful of others who have been accused of or “implicated” (don't you love that word? Tarnishes people's reputation at no cost to the tarnisher at all) in wrongdoing. Not charged and convicted mind you, just “implicated” with no reference to by whom. That brings the number of their “suspects” to about 0.005% – about half of one percent.
Anyone remotely in touch with how the world works knows that the operations of the most notorious financial criminals and the biggest examples of fraud and money laundering, including those by international banks, take place far away from tiny Vanuatu’s shores.
I wonder what the percentages would be for those gaining citizenship or permanent residency in countries like the USA, UK, Australia, if they were to be similarly “investigated”? I dare say a LOT higher.
In an apparent effort to make the story more interesting, the article goes on to reveal “The list presents a list of colourful characters including a Fifa boss, an Emirati princess and a Nigerian televangelist – none of whom _____(this newspaper) alleges were involved in any wrongdoing or criminal activity.”
So now being a “colourful character” implies you are somehow doing something shady, despite engaging in a perfectly legal (and sensible) effort to widen your options. No wonder people are buying Vanuatu Citizenship – to get away from this kind of nonsense!
Ronald Warsal, the chairman of the Vanuatu Citizenship Office and Commission, effectively rebutted the more sensational claims in the article. He pointed out calmly that at the time of application, those pinpointed had no record of wrongdoing. Ronald is a straight guy – he's a lawyer, I know him personally – and he is pretty hot on keeping out “undesirables.” I am confident no one can “sneak in” without massive deception.
And this is one reason why “Lance in Vanuatu” has a 100% success track record in our Citizenship By Investment applications and Permanent Residency applications. We have our own reputation with the Citizenship Commission to uphold. We look over the applications very VERY carefully ourselves before submission, and we reject applicants if we feel we can't get them over the line ethically.
And we tell our clients plainly that there will be NO REFUND if they are rejected because they are found to have made any fraudulent claims in their application. That seems to effectively scare off any “shady characters.” 🙂
I'd welcome a Consultation Booking with you if you are an “above board” kinda person who wants to expand their options.
Go here to book: https://in.vu/cal
Cheers
Lance in (strictly legal) Vanuatu
