Sierra Leone or Vanuatu, and the Checks to Make Before Any Payment

Clients often put Sierra Leone next to Vanuatu, because both are sold as quick and relatively cheap passports. Here is how I compare them, using the BRIDGES comparison of September 2026 and what I could check myself on 27 October 2026.

The comparison

	Sierra Leone	Vanuatu
Entry figure (BRIDGES)	about $100,000 (heritage) to about $148,000 (fast track)	about $130,000 single, about $150,000 couple, about $15,000 per child
Timeline (BRIDGES)	about 60 to 90 days	about 60 to 90 days
Published rules	not found for the investor route	an established programme
Schengen without a visa	no	no, cancelled by the EU in December 2024
Regional bonus	ECOWAS membership	none comparable

All money and time figures are approximate figures from BRIDGES, not official tariffs. For Vanuatu there is a separate guide in this series: Vanuatu Citizenship Guide.

What the comparison shows

Price is not the main difference

The prices are close. The real difference is legal certainty. Vanuatu’s programme is known and documented. For Sierra Leone the SLID announcement of 2025 gives a direction, and the BRIDGES programme page says openly that the rules are not public.

Travel is no longer an argument for either

Since Vanuatu lost Schengen visa-free access, neither passport opens Europe. Sierra Leone is on the visa list of EU Regulation 2018/1806. The details are in the passport guide.

My checklist before any payment

I give this list to every client who asks about Sierra Leone, and I use it myself:

1. The legal provision. Which article or regulation your route is based on, with its text.
2. The authority. Which body takes the decision and who signs it.
3. The recipient of the money. The name of the account holder and why the money goes there.
4. The family list. Who is included, up to what age, at what cost.
5. The refusal terms. What happens to each payment if the answer is no.
6. The gold terms, if you choose that option: custodian, storage period, valuation and return.
7. Your own country’s rules on dual citizenship and on notifying the authorities.

If any point stays open, I do not advise paying. This is how BRIDGES works too: no state payments until the basis is confirmed in writing.

Who should choose what

If you have roots in Sierra Leone or business in West Africa, Sierra Leone can make sense once the route is confirmed. If you need a documented programme and the region does not matter, Vanuatu or another programme with published rules is the calmer choice. The complete guide brings it all together.