Tuvalu visitor permit

Section 9 of the Immigration Act allows the Principal Immigration Officer to issue or extend a visitor's permit only on written instruction from the Minister, or when satisfied that the visitor holds a valid ticket or other means of travelling on to a country he or she can enter, and has not spent more than 3 months in total in Tuvalu during the preceding 12 months. Each permit or extension is limited to one month.

Citizens of countries in Schedule 1 of the Immigration Regulations pay no visitor fee. The schedule includes, among others, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Denmark, Fiji, Iceland, Kiribati, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, the Maldives, Nauru, Norway, Samoa, Sweden, Switzerland, Tonga, the United Kingdom and Vanuatu. Everyone else pays 100 dollars, unless the Minister waives it. Tuvalu uses Australian currency.

Every person arriving in Tuvalu by air or sea, except the crew of commercial aircraft and vessels, completes an arrival card, and a departure card when leaving. The tourism office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also lists a departure tax of 30 Australian dollars per person.

The Principal Immigration Officer may extend a visitor's permit by up to 30 days. The fee is 100 dollars if no work or business is involved and 200 dollars if the visitor intends to engage in business or employment. The 3-months-in-12 limit in section 9 of the Act still applies.

A visitor's permit may be cancelled if the visitor should not have received it, becomes a prohibited immigrant, cannot support himself or his dependants, behaves in a way prejudicial to peace and good order, or breaches its conditions. Any person aggrieved by an immigration officer's decision can ask in writing for it to be referred to the Minister within 14 days, or 28 days if resident abroad.

The standard conditions of a visitor's permit are no employment or business activities, no study and no proselytising. Visitors who intend to do business can receive a permit with a special business endorsement for up to 30 days on payment of an extra 100 dollars. The regulations count attending a conference or training session, performing professional services, including for the government or non-governmental organisations, and negotiating an exploratory business as business activities.