Over 40% of Tuvalu citizens apply for relocation to Australia

SYDNEY (Kyodo) — More than 4,000 citizens of the small Pacific nation of Tuvalu, equivalent to 42 percent of the population, have applied for a landmark climate visa to migrate to Australia as rising sea levels threaten their home, according to official figures.

The climate migration visa program offered by Canberra allows up to 280 Tuvalu citizens to migrate to Australia each year under a treaty signed by the two countries in 2023, dubbed the “Falepili Union.”

With an estimated population of just 9,600, Tuvalu could be depopulated in 35 years at that rate.

Lying at an average elevation of just 2 meters above sea level, the climate crisis threatens to submerge Tuvalu within decades.

Since applications opened for the visa lottery system in mid-June, 1,124 Tuvaluans have registered, with family members bringing the total number to 4,052 as of Friday, according to figures from government sources obtained by Kyodo News.

Registration for the lottery will close on July 18, after which those selected will be able to formally apply for the visas.

While the agreement provides a pathway for migration in the face of climate change, Tuvalu’s government is working to secure a future for the archipelago by fortifying its coastline through land reclamation and adaptation projects, hoping there will not be a mass departure from the country.

The government has emphasized that the Falepili migration pathway provides for movement back and forth, with the hope that Tuvaluan citizens will gain skills and education in Australia and return to the islands.

However, the extremely high interest shown in the program so far suggests it could lead to a high level of relocation to Australia, according to Jess Marinaccio, an assistant professor at California State University at Dominguez Hills who previously worked for Tuvalu’s department of foreign affairs.

“Even though the pathway will only award 280 visas per year, this initial and immense outpouring of interest suggests that Tuvaluan citizens will continue to apply for visas each year of the program” Marinaccio said, adding this could distract from efforts to preserve Tuvalu’s land.

Made up of nine low-lying coral atolls, Tuvalu has seen a 15-centimeter rise in sea levels over the last 30 years, a rate 1.5 times the global average, according to the Sea Level Change Team at the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

By 2050, NASA scientists project that much of the nation’s 26 square kilometers of land and the critical infrastructure on it will lie below the average high tide level.