Australia offers every year visas to citizens of Tuvalu according to a climate migration agreement. Tuvalu is one of the world's most climate-exposed areas, and researchers fear that the country may become uninhabitable within 80 years.
This year, 82 percent – including family members of applicants – of the country's population of 10,643 people have applied for the visa. But only 280 people will get a visa this year.
Australia and Tuvalu signed a cooperation agreement in 2024, as part of Canberra's attempts to curb China's growing influence in the region.
As part of the agreement, Australia has introduced a new visa category specifically reserved for citizens of Tuvalu, where the selection is made by lottery. This visa gives Tuvaluans the opportunity to live, study and work in Australia.
This is the first agreement of its kind in the world and offers a dignified path to mobility as climate impact worsens, said Australia's Foreign Department to AFP in June.
Two of Tuvalu's nine coral atolls have already largely disappeared below the sea surface.
