Overview

• Since the lottery opened on June 16, 1,124 primary applicants and their families—totaling 4,052 people or more than one-third of Tuvalu’s population—have registered for the visa draw.
• The Falepili Union treaty, in force since August 2024, reserves 280 annual climate visas that grant recipients the right to live, work, study and access healthcare in Australia without needing a job offer.
• Winners will be chosen by random draw and are slated to begin arriving in Australia by the end of 2025.
• NASA projects that by 2050 daily tides will submerge half of Funafuti’s main atoll under a one-metre sea-level rise, underscoring Tuvalu’s looming habitability crisis.
• Officials foresee that remittances from relocated migrants could bolster those remaining on the islands but warn of potential brain drain among skilled professionals.