Most CBI cost pages quote one cost. Vanuatu has two real pathways with different shapes: DSP is a pure donation; CIIP is a lower donation plus a $50,000 redeemable investment in the Cocoa Sustainable Fund. This page shows both side-by-side so the trade-off is visible.
Pathway 1 / DSP
Pure donation. The simplest one-line structure. Non-refundable contribution to the Vanuatu government.
Pathway 2 / CIIP
Lower donation, plus a $50,000 investment in the Cocoa Sustainable Fund. Redeemable after a four-year hold.
| Line item | DSP Single | DSP Family of 4 | CIIP Single | CIIP Family of 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Government donation Non-refundable. Paid after VCC approval. | $130,000 | $180,000 | $110,000 | $110,000 |
Cocoa Sustainable Fund investment CIIP only. Redeemable after 4-year hold. | n/a | n/a | $50,000 | $50,000 |
21 CBI advisory (5% of donation) No percentage on CIIP fund investment (capital, not fee). | $6,500 | $9,000 | $5,500 | $5,500 |
Due diligence (flat) VFIU background + Interpol NCB + VCC review. | $5,000 | $5,000 | $5,000 | $5,000 |
Passport enrolment (per applicant) | $1,000 | $4,000 | $1,000 | $4,000 |
All-in (out of pocket) | $142,500 | $198,000 | $171,500 | $174,500 |
Net after 4-year Cocoa Fund redemption CIIP only. DSP is non-refundable end to end. | $142,500 | $198,000 | $121,500 | $124,500 |
For live BTC and sats equivalents at today's exchange rate, use the Cost Calculator. BTC rates shift; static sats figures go stale quickly.
Choose DSP if you want the simplest possible structure: one donation, non-refundable, no fund administration, no four-year carry. Most single applicants and most fast-moving family files pick DSP.
Choose CIIP if you are a cost-conscious family that can carry $50,000 of capital for four years. The CIIP donation is $110,000 flat across family sizes up to four, plus the $50,000 redeemable fund investment. Net of the four-year redemption, CIIP at the family-of-four tier is $70,000 cheaper than DSP at the same family size. The trade-off is the four-year capital lock on the fund investment.
Processing speed, due diligence, and the resulting passport are identical for both pathways. The Vanuatu Citizenship Commission reviews both files under the same framework; the pathway difference is the contribution structure, not the citizenship grant.
The 21 CBI advisory fee and the due-diligence fee settle on Bitcoin (on-chain), Lightning, or USDT at engagement. Credit cards and bank transfers also accepted as needed. The government donation (and CIIP fund investment) move through our authorized Vanuatu legal partner after the Citizenship Commission approves the file; we coordinate the conversion with full transparency and lock the BTC/USD rate at the moment of payment.
Writing the cheque is straightforward. The work that earns the engagement fee is the source-of-funds package: origin discovery, custody mapping, on-chain analysis, reconciliation, and the VFIU-formatted submission. For most Bitcoin files, the source-of-funds work is the largest single piece of the engagement.
The full methodology is public: Bitcoin source-of-funds methodology.
At $130,000 DSP single, Vanuatu is more expensive than São Tomé ($90,000) but much cheaper than Türkiye ($400,000) or El Salvador ($1,000,000). What you buy for the premium over STP is processing speed: Vanuatu is the fastest CBI in the world (30 to 60 days), giving you a second passport on the wall before most programs have cleared due diligence.
DSP (Development Support Program) is a pure donation: $130,000 for a single applicant, scaling to $180,000 for a family of four. The contribution is non-refundable. CIIP (Capital Investment Immigration Plan) is a lower donation of $110,000 flat across family sizes up to four, plus a $50,000 investment in the Cocoa Sustainable Fund that is redeemable after a four-year hold. CIIP's total all-in is higher, but $50,000 of it eventually comes back. DSP suits applicants who want the simplest one-line structure; CIIP suits cost-conscious families where the redemption math improves the long-run figure.
On out-of-pocket headline numbers, CIIP. The CIIP donation is $110,000 flat across family sizes up to four, plus $50,000 in the Cocoa Sustainable Fund. The DSP donation for a family of four is $180,000. If you treat the CIIP fund investment as fully redeemable after the four-year hold (the program structure), CIIP nets out at $110,000 vs DSP at $180,000. Treat the $50,000 fund investment as locked capital for that period; CIIP works for families that can carry it.
Yes, after a four-year hold under the program's published terms. The $50,000 goes into a state-administered fund supporting cocoa-sector development in Vanuatu; at the end of the hold period, the principal returns. This is a structural feature of the CIIP program and is documented in the Citizenship Act framework. Treat the four-year lock as the cost of carry; the structural advantage is that $50,000 of your CIIP outlay is investment, not donation.
30 to 60 days from filing to issued passport for both DSP and CIIP. Vanuatu is the fastest CBI program globally; the speed is the program's headline differentiator over Caribbean alternatives that typically run 3 to 6 months. The processing speed does not change with pathway selection; both DSP and CIIP move through the same VFIU due diligence and Vanuatu Citizenship Commission approval workflow.
BTC, Lightning, and USDT are our payment rails; credit cards and bank transfers also accepted as needed. We process the government contribution through our authorized Vanuatu legal partner after the Citizenship Commission issues approval. The 21 CBI advisory fee and the due-diligence fee settle at engagement on the same rails.
5% of the government donation. For DSP that is $6,500 on the $130,000 single-applicant donation. For CIIP that is $5,500 on the $110,000 donation. We do not charge a percentage on the CIIP Cocoa Sustainable Fund investment because it is structurally an investment, not a fee; you get it back, and we do not bill a percentage on capital you will recover.
After the Vanuatu Citizenship Commission issues approval. The advisory and due-diligence fees are paid earlier, at engagement. The government donation is the last money to move; VCC review is what protects the contribution before settlement. Total wall-clock from engagement to passport in hand: typically six weeks of preparation plus 30 to 60 days of processing.
If Vanuatu is the right shape for your family, the next step is a confidential call. We will tell you on the first call whether DSP or CIIP fits your situation. Encrypted. No obligation. No payment required to start the conversation.
Adam Juchniewicz, CEO, 21 CBI
