Vanuatu ties deprivation for a prison sentence to naturalised citizens

Vanuatu’s Citizenship Office said on 24 September that it had not decided to revoke the citizenship of Andrew Tate, who RNZ reports obtained his Vanuatu passport under the citizenship-by-investment scheme in 2022. RNZ said the statement noted that a prison sentence of more than 10 years would be needed. In the Citizenship Act as read here, the only ground tied to a sentence sits in one section, and that section names a citizen by naturalisation.

What was reported this week

According to RNZ, ABC Pacific reported on 21 September that Tate’s passport had been revoked. On 24 September, Charlie Maniel, chairman of the Citizenship Office and Commission, said in a statement that the office had not made a decision to revoke the grant of citizenship concerning Tate.

The statement, as RNZ quotes it, gave this reason: “There is currently insufficient evidence to support such action based on the Citizenship Office’s records and the recent due diligence information received”. It added: “Subsequent allegations do not, by themselves, establish that the original citizenship decision was improperly or knowingly made.”

The first report concerned revoking a passport; the statement concerned revoking citizenship. The two are separate acts, and the statement as reported does not address the passport.

The Constitution leaves the grounds to Parliament

Article 14 of the Constitution reads: “Parliament may make provision for the acquisition of citizenship of Vanuatu by persons not covered in the preceding Articles of this Chapter and may make provision for the deprivation and renunciation of citizenship of Vanuatu.” The grounds for losing citizenship are therefore set by statute.

The ground tied to a sentence

Section 16 of the Citizenship Act, headed “Deprivation of citizenship”, reads in full: “The Prime Minister may deprive a citizen by naturalization of his citizenship by declaration in the Vanuatu Gazette within 15 days of that person being sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 10 years or more.”

The power is the Prime Minister’s and discretionary; it is exercised by a declaration in the Gazette within 15 days of sentencing; and the threshold is a sentence of 10 years or more.

RNZ’s account differs from the section in two respects: it puts the threshold at more than 10 years, where the section says 10 years or more, and it does not mention the 15-day period. The statement itself was not available, so the Commission’s exact wording on the threshold is not known. The sentence-based power in section 16 belongs to the Prime Minister; the Commission’s own power to revoke, set out below, contains no ground based on a sentence.

The other routes to losing citizenship

The texts read here set out other routes, and none of them turns on a sentence imposed after citizenship is granted. Under section 14(2), a person whom a court finds to have obtained citizenship by false representation, fraud or concealment of a material fact on their part ceases to be a citizen 30 days after that finding. The exception is where, within those 30 days, the Prime Minister, satisfied that the offence was minor and that the true facts would not have affected the grant, publishes a declaration in the Vanuatu Gazette confirming the citizenship. Section 14(3) excludes acts done under compulsion of the law of another country.

A 2013 amendment gave the Citizenship Commission power to revoke a citizenship that has been granted in three cases: where it was granted in a fraudulent manner, where it was granted contrary to the Act or the Constitution, and where the person is not complying with the restrictions in the Act after the grant. That power refers to any citizenship granted, not only to naturalisation.

Where investor citizenship sits

Investor citizenship came into the Act later, and in its own Part. Act No. 39 of 2013 inserted Part 3A, headed Dual Citizenship, after Part 3. It applies to a person who intends to apply for Vanuatu citizenship and hold dual citizenship as recognised by the Constitution, and its section 13B provided for investors under the Capital Investment Immigration Plan.

An amendment in force from 8 July 2016 substituted section 13B(2), which reads: “(2) Subject to subsection (3), in addition to any other classes of persons eligible to apply for citizenship under this Act, the following persons may apply for and be granted citizenship: (a) an investor under the Capital Investment Immigration Plan who complies with the requirements set out under section 13C; and (b) an investor under the Contribution Program who complies with the requirements as set out under section 13CB.”

Further amendments added section 13E for the Development Support Program in 2019, section 13F for the Real Estate Option Program in 2021 and section 13G for the Investment – Government Bond Option in 2023.

What the Act does not settle

The Act points two ways on whether section 16 reaches these citizens. Section 16 speaks of a citizen by naturalization, and the long title in the 2006 consolidation, which predates Part 3A, reads: “To provide for citizenship by naturalization, renunciation of citizenship, and the establishment of a Citizenship Commission.” The investor provisions, however, sit in Part 3A, apart from naturalisation in Part 3, and section 13B(2) sets investors out as a class in addition to the other classes eligible under the Act.

The Act does not define naturalisation. None of the amending Acts read for this article changes section 16 or supplies a definition. The provisions read here therefore do not say whether section 16 applies to a person granted citizenship as an investor under Part 3A.

What this reading does not cover

The text of the Act read here is the 2006 consolidation on the Pacific Islands Legal Information Institute, read with the amending Acts published there; no later consolidation was available, and the Vanuatu Gazette was not consulted. The rules on passports were not read.

The Legation Times reported on 24 September on a proposed sixth ground for revoking naturalisation in Ireland.