Vanuatu Investment Migration Bureau (VIMB Services Ltd) - SCAM ALERT

[JohnnyDoe]

These guys Vanuatu Investment Migration Bureau | Get Your Second Citizenship in Vanuatu with VIMB offer citizenship by investment in Guinea Bissau. It is a scam: the country doesn't have a citizenship program, but it's quite easy to obtain, through fraudulent means, a passport and accompanying documents.
Of course they advertise this non existent program on OffshoreCorpTalk, the scam forum: https://www.offshorecorptalk.com/th...anuatu-investment-programs.49751/#post-376979 (you need to copy/paste the link into a private browser).

The company is an authorized CIIP agent in Vanuatu, but evidently they can't say no to easy money and fraud elsewhere.

 

[Paratore]

I did some internet research on Guinea-Bissau’s citizenship programs. They have one of those African citizenship by ancestry where you have to prove African descent by DNA test, similar to Benin. However, due to political instability it doesn’t appear to have ever actually processed any applications. They also have a legal means to waive the residence period for naturalization due to exceptional contribution to the nation or to its independence. These things, technically, do exist.

That said, there are no reports of the citizenship by ancestry program being active. I can only speculate how corrupt this program or any accelerated citizenship by exception program would be in this region. I investigated the Serbian program to the point of engaging a lawyer to look into it and found it to be such that I didn’t pursue it. Africa would be orders of magnitude worse. There aren’t any online reports of corruption in the Benin ancestry program but I’m watching those closely out of curiosity.

 

[JohnnyDoe]

They also have a legal means to waive the residence period for naturalization due to exceptional contribution to the nation or to its independence. These things, technically, do exist.

Yes this provision exists in almost every country of the world. It has nothing to do with citizenship by investment, and certainly a $100k fee does not qualify as “exceptional contribution”. It is the same old marketing story of every fake citizenship program.
Just google “Guinea Bissau citizenship scam”.

 

[Paratore]

Yes this provision exists in almost every country of the world. It has nothing to do with citizenship by investment, and certainly a $100k fee does not qualify as “exceptional contribution”. It is the same old marketing story of every fake citizenship program.
Just google “Guinea Bissau citizenship scam”.

We’re really just debating the magnitude of corruption and the size of the bribe needed. I have no doubt one could pay off a politician there to get “official” citizenship. The payment might be around $100000 US. How stable that status would be upon their next coup is an open question, though I’d hazard “not particularly” as a first answer. I doubt a citizenship by investment agency with Vanuatu as the only other option and that advertises on an obscure internet forum has the connections to pull it off.

 

[JohnnyDoe]

We’re really just debating the magnitude of corruption and the size of the bribe needed. I have no doubt one could pay off a politician there to get “official” citizenship. The payment might be around $100000 US.

You would not get citizenship, but a passport, perhaps with some supporting documents and even an entry in the registry.
$100k are not sufficient to buy the president and all the other people involved in the issuance of a genuine citizenship.
Politicians and generals in GB make millions with narcotraffic. They will not move a finger for a mere $100k.
Of those $100k, most likely $20k to some guy in the passport office who prints the document. The remaining $80k are split between VIMB and their middleman.

How stable that status would be upon their next coup is an open question, though I’d hazard “not particularly” as a first answer.

There is no status. It's just a worthless document.

I doubt a citizenship by investment agency with Vanuatu as the only other option and that advertises on an obscure internet forum has the connections to pull it off.

Correct. I bet that nobody in that agency ever set foot in Guinea Bissau.

 

[JohnnyDoe]

“Authorized agent” for the non existent Guinea Bissau citizenship by investment program 🤣
Only on Offshorecorptalk!
Stay away from these scammers.

 

[Paratore]

$100k are not sufficient to buy the president and all the other people involved in the issuance of a genuine citizenship.
Politicians and generals in GB make millions with narcotraffic. They will not move a finger for a mere $100k.
Of those $100k, most likely $20k to some guy in the passport office who prints the document. The remaining $80k are split between VIMB and their middleman.

I will take your word on how much it costs to bribe a politician or general in Guinea-Bissau. I believe I can live a long and fulfilling life without ever personally obtaining that information. It seems costly for what is essentially an African warlord, though. Eastern European gangsters go for far cheaper.

 

[JohnnyDoe]

I will take your word on how much it costs to bribe a politician or general in Guinea-Bissau. I believe I can live a long and fulfilling life without ever personally obtaining that information. It seems costly for what is essentially an African warlord, though. Eastern European gangsters go for far cheaper.

Just use common sense, if you don’t want to visit the (really) beautiful country of Guinea Bissau.

The military and government of the country have been involved for many years in drug trafficking. Not the kind managed by the average Eastern European gangster: it’s a huge business, so big to push the DEA to send vessels off the coast of Guinea Bissau to arrest its chief of the Navy: Manhattan U.S. Attorney Announces Arrests Of Drug Kingpin Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto, The Former Head Of The Guinea-Bissau Navy, And Six Others For Narcotics Trafficking Offenses
We are talking of a Maduro-like operation, not publicized because no export of democracy was involved.

Several Guinean politicians and military leaders are on the U.S. most wanted list. For example: Technical Difficulties

“Between June and November 2012, Indjai agreed to receive and store multi-ton quantities of cocaine purportedly owned by the FARC, which he understood would be sold for the benefit of the FARC. Indjai and other co-conspirators agreed to purchase weapons, including anti-aircraft missiles, for the FARC using drug proceeds and established a front company in Guinea-Bissau to complete the illicit weapons transactions.”

Do you think that the persons in power, who manage a multi billion dollar business in competition (sometimes) with the USA, have time to waste with a random guy from Vanuatu offering a few thousand dollars in exchange for citizenship?

 

[Marty McFly]

Come on, it’s so clear it’s a scam! Like everything on Offshorecorptalk.
The mods there are trying to play the watchdogs role now, so pathetic. Well, if you are a mod on Offshorecorptalk you must be a pathetic little person 🤣