By Charlotte Van Campenhout
The European Union revoked a visa-free journey settlement with a rustic over its ‘golden passport’ program for the primary time on Thursday, ending the cope with the Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu as a consequence of considerations over its scheme.
This system enabled foreigners to accumulate Vanuatu citizenship and a passport by making a minimal funding of $130,000. This granted them visa-free entry to the EU beneath the visa waiver settlement the nation had with the 27-nation bloc.
The EU had already suspended Vanuatu’s visa exemption in 2022. An EU official mentioned the top of the settlement with Vanuatu, introduced in an EU assertion, marked the primary time the EU has withdrawn the visa exemption of a rustic for working “golden passport” schemes.
The European Fee has repeatedly expressed concern that such applications may create safety vulnerabilities and facilitate cash laundering.
Vanuatu’s Brussels embassy was not instantly obtainable for remark.
In a report launched in December 2024, the EU mentioned it was monitoring different visa-free international locations, together with japanese European in addition to Japanese Caribbean states, providing an identical scheme.
This text was produced by Reuters information company. It has not been edited by International South World.
