Vanuatu says it has no plans to revoke Andrew Tate’s golden passport after review

Vanuatu has decided not to revoke Andrew Tate’s citizenship after reviewing his application, a government spokesperson is reported to have said.

The government initially responded to a report that Tate secured a “golden passport” in December 2022 – the same month he was arrested in Romania for human trafficking and rape charges – by saying it was considering rescinding it.

But Vanuatu government spokesperson Kiery Manassah told The Guardian on Thursday that the country’s citizenship office had found no fault with Tate’s application and would not rescind his passport.

“They’ve found the files and according to the records, at the time when Mr Tate was granted the citizenship, he was cleared by Interpol, and the UK, so that was the decision at the time,” he said.

He told the outlet: “The chairman [of the citizenship office] confirms that the way it is at the moment he [Tate] remains a citizen and for Vanuatu there are no further actions to be taken.”

Mr Manassah admitted that, had they known about the allegations at the time, Tate wouldn’t have been granted citizenship.

“If the government had been aware of this at the start, and our processes were working, we should have not allowed him in the first place,” he said. “We can’t just go back and revoke based on information that is discovered later.”

Earlier, an investigation by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) had found that the self-proclaimed misogynist influencer secured a Vanuatu passport through a fast-track investment scheme requiring a minimum outlay of $130,000 (£96,000). Vanuatu doesn’t have an extradition treaty with Romania.

The controversial programme has fuelled security concerns and prompted the European Union to revoke Vanuatu’s visa-free access in late 2024.

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After the report was published by OCCRP, Mr Manassah had told ABC News that they would look into Tate’s citizenship application. “Once we have the files, definitely, the processes will be in place to revoke his citizenship,” he said earlier.

“The government does not want to encourage people of questionable backgrounds to be granted citizenship,” he added. “Those who are wanted by their countries or who are investigated by police authorities from overseas are not welcome to be part of the citizens of Vanuatu,” he told the outlet.

The Tate brothers, who were raised in Luton in the UK, have been under criminal investigation in Romania since April 2022.

If convicted, Tate’s citizenship could still be revoked in the future, Mr Manassah said. “If he has been convicted then definitely measures to revoke his citizenship, that can be determined later. That would be something the government could consider in future.”

He told The Guardian: “New regulations have been signed off by the prime minister and the current chairman under [citizenship commissioner] Charles Maniel, is trying to ensure that similar incidents do not happen again and that we our improve our due diligence processes.”

Aubrey Belford, OCCRP’s Pacific editor, said the team was investigating Vanuatu’s golden passport scheme when they stumbled upon the name Emory Andrew Tate — and then set out to confirm it was the same individual as the controversial online influencer.

“The [golden passport] system has been abused by oligarchs, organised criminals, intelligence agents, and it’s caused a lot of alarm because it’s one of these loopholes that allows people to get a new passport or even a new identity and be able to evade law enforcement,” he told ABC News.

Former UK home secretary Suella Braverman said in 2023 that close consideration of Vanuatu’s golden passports had revealed “clear and evident abuse of the scheme, including the granting of citizenship to individuals known to pose a risk to the UK”.

Last month, UK prosecutors filed charges against Tate and his brother Tristan Tate for rape, actual bodily harm, and human trafficking, linked to alleged incidents between 2012 and 2015.

Tate also faces an additional charge of controlling prostitution for financial gain.

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Both brothers, who hold dual US and UK citizenship, deny all allegations from both Romanian and British authorities.

Jotham Napat, who took office as Vanuatu’s prime minister earlier this year, has pledged to overhaul the country’s controversial economic citizenship programme — a key source of government revenue.

The pledge followed revelations that Vanuatu had granted a golden passport to fugitive former Indian cricket chief Lalit Modi, who moved to renounce his Indian citizenship after acquiring Vanuatu nationality.