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Nearly One-third of a Nation's Population Applies For Aussie Visa

Amost a third of residents in the Pacific country of Tuvalu are seeking a landmark visa in the context of climate modification to live in Australia as increasing seas threaten their palm-fringed shores, main figures reveal.

Australia is offering visas to 280 Tuvalu people each year under a climate migration offer Canberra has billed as 'the first contract of its kind throughout the world'.

More than 3,000 Tuvaluans have actually already gone into a ballot for the very first batch of visas, according to main figures on the Australian program - almost a third of the nation's population.

Among the most climate-threatened corners of the planet, Tuvalu will be uninhabitable within the next 80 years, researchers fear.

Two of the island chain's 9 coral atolls have currently mainly vanished under the waves.

'Australia acknowledges the devastating effect climate change is having on the incomes, security and wellness of climate susceptible nations and people, especially in the Pacific area,' Australia's foreign affairs department stated.

Australia and Tuvalu signed the groundbreaking Falepili Union in 2024, part of Canberra's efforts to blunt reach in the region.

Under that pact, Australia opened a new visa category specifically set aside for adult people of Tuvalu.

Australia and Tuvalu signed a 'world first' deal in 2024 which would allow people from Tuvalu to apply for a 'environment migration' visa

Already, there are indications the program will be hugely oversubscribed.

Official data on the program reveals 3,125 Tuvaluans went into the random ballot within four days of it opening recently.

'This is the first arrangement of its kind anywhere in the world, supplying a path for mobility with dignity as climate impacts worsen,' a spokesperson for Australia's foreign affairs department stated.

Tuvalu is home to 10,643 people, according to census figures collected in 2022.

Registration expenses A$ 25 ($16), with the tally closing on 18 July.

The visa program has actually been hailed as a landmark response to the looming obstacle of climate-forced migration.

'At the exact same time, it will supply Tuvaluans the option to live, study and operate in Australia,' Australia's foreign affairs department stated.

But it has actually likewise fanned fears that countries like Tuvalu could be rapidly drained of competent specialists and young skill.

About 3000 people from the Pacific nation have already looked for the visa (stock image)

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University of Sydney geographer John Connell cautioned that a long-term exodus of workers could threaten Tuvalu's future.

'Small states do not have lots of jobs and some activities don't need that many individuals,' he said.

'Atolls do not offer much of a future: agriculture is hard, fisheries use terrific potential but it doesn't generate employment.'

The Falepili pact devotes Australia to protecting Tuvalu in the face of natural catastrophes, health pandemics and 'military aggression'.

'For the very first time, there is a country that has dedicated lawfully to come to the help of Tuvalu, upon demand, when Tuvalu comes across a major natural catastrophe, a health pandemic or military aggression,' Tuvalu's prime minister, Feleti Teo, said at the time.

'Again, for the very first time, there is a country that has actually dedicated legally to acknowledge the future statehood and sovereignty of Tuvalu regardless of the detrimental impact of climate changed-induced sea level rise.'

The contract also provides Australia a say in any other defence pacts Tuvalu indications with other nations, raising concerns at the time that the Pacific country was handing over its sovereignty.

Tuvalu is one of simply 12 states that still have formal diplomatic relations with Taipei instead of Beijing.

Australia's prime minister, Anthony Albanese, stated last year that his country shared a vision for a 'tranquil, stable, prosperous and unified region'.

'It reveals our Pacific partners that they can depend on Australia as a relied on and authentic partner.'