More Than One-Third of Tuvalu’s Population Has Applied for a ‘Climate Visa’ to Relocate to Australia
The world-first climate visa agreement will grant permanent residency status to 280 Tuvaluans per year as the island nation grapples with sea-level rise
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More than one-third of Tuvalu’s population is seeking to move to Australia under a new climate visa program, as their own nation is at great risk of being engulfed by the sea.
Tuvalu is a small country in the South Pacific of about 10,000 people who live across nine islands and coral atolls. NASA has found that half of the main atoll of Funafuti—home to the majority of Tuvalu’s residents—will be underwater during high tide by 2050. Two of Tuvalu’s nine islands are already nearly gone.
“Internal relocation in Tuvalu is not an option; we are totally flat,” Feleti Teo, Tuvalu’s prime minister, said at the United Nations Oceans Conference on June 12, per CNN’s Angus Watson. “There is no option to move inland or move to higher ground, because there is no higher ground.”
Did you know? Elevation of Tuvalu
The average elevation in Tuvalu is just 6 feet 7 inches, and its highest point is about 15 feet above sea level.
Tuvalu is also facing other climate-related threats, such as increasing intensity of storms, water scarcity and biodiversity loss. These threats could contribute to financial instability, reported Giovanni Prete for Earth.org in 2024. They’re also impacting the country’s culture. “In Tuvalu, the bond between people, land and culture is unbreakable. For its people, home is not just where they live—it is who they are. Leaving is not what they want,” says Kamal Amakrane, managing director of the Global Center for Climate Mobility (GCCM), to Lottie Limb at Euronews. “Yet climate change is rewriting the future.”
Now, at least 1,124 people have entered the lottery to receive a climate visa—and accounting for their spouses and children, the total number of people seeking refuge is at least 4,052, reports Reuters’ Kirsty Needham. Tapugao Falefou, Tuvalu’s ambassador to the United Nations, tells the publication he was “startled by the huge number of people vying for this opportunity.”
Australia pledged to grant 280 special climate visas to Tuvaluans per year in the Falepili Union, named for the Tuvaluan word referring to close neighbors. Climate visa recipients can move freely between the two countries, while the agreement strives to simultaneously safeguard and invest in Tuvalu’s future.
“The opening of the Falepili Mobility Pathway delivers on our shared vision for mobility with dignity, by providing Tuvaluans the opportunity to live, study and work in Australia as climate impacts worsen,” says Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong in a statement, per CNN.
Part of the goal is also to curb China’s influence over Tuvalu, writes the New York Times’ Max Bearak. Under the agreement, Tuvalu also agrees to get Australia’s approval before making a security arrangement with any other country.
While the agreement has been hailed as a world-first moment, some have concerns that it will limit the availability of labor in Tuvalu. “Small states do not have many jobs, and some activities don’t need that many people,” says John Connell, a geographer at the University of Sydney in Australia, to the Agence France-Presse. “Atolls don’t offer much of a future—agriculture is hard, fisheries offer wonderful potential, but it doesn’t generate employment.”
With the visas currently capped at 280 per year, it would take almost 40 years for all Tuvaluans to relocate. Additionally, the language of the agreement is careful not to imply that Tuvalu will cease to exist. “The statehood and sovereignty of Tuvalu will continue, and the rights and duties inherent thereto will be maintained, notwithstanding the impact of climate change-related sea-level rise,” reads the treaty.
In an effort to continue its existence, Tuvalu had previously announced plans to digitally archive its culture and history and become the first “digital nation.”
“This digital transformation will allow Tuvalu to retain its identity and continue to function as a state, even after its physical land is gone,” reads Tuvalu’s website.
Tuvaluans will have until July 18 to submit their ballots in this first round of applications. This year’s 280 random visa winners will be selected between July 2025 and January 2026, granting them permanent residency status in Australia.
