Australia’s new Falepili Mobility Pathway offers Tuvaluans a legal route to resettle as rising seas threaten their homeland.
Australia’s Falepili Mobility Pathway is the world’s first visa scheme designed for citizens of Tuvalu, a Pacific island nation facing severe land loss due to sea-level rise. The initiative forms part of the Australia–Tuvalu Falepili Union treaty, signed on 9 November 2023 and officially entering into force on 28 August 2024.
Although the visa itself does not mention the term “climate,” the treaty explicitly recognises climate change as an existential threat to Tuvalu’s survival, effectively making it a climate visa. Australia introduced the pathway to give Tuvaluan citizens a legal route to resettle in the country, as parts of Tuvalu have become uninhabitable. The move also aims to bolster Australia’s humanitarian role and regional influence in the Pacific.
Tuvalu’s climate crisis
Tuvalu, a chain of nine low-lying coral atolls in the Pacific, has become a stark symbol of climate vulnerability. With an average elevation of just two metres above sea level, the nation is on the front line of a crisis it did not cause.
Sea levels in the region have risen by roughly 15 centimetres since the early 1990s, and projections suggest that by 2050, much of Tuvalu could be below high tide. Already, saltwater intrusion is contaminating groundwater and crops, homes have been abandoned on eroded coasts, and the entire island faces the prospect of becoming uninhabitable.
For Tuvalu’s 11,000 citizens, each tide or cyclone brings the possibility of forced evacuation, and the government has already begun preparing for a future where parts of its population may need to relocate permanently. The urgency of these risks, along with the slow pace of global emissions cuts, has pushed Tuvalu to seek legal migration pathways to protect its people’s future.
How the ‘climate visa’ works
The Falepili Mobility Pathway allows up to 280 Tuvaluan citizens each year to move to Australia starting in 2025. Applications are submitted through an online ballot, which opened on 16 June 2025 and closed on 18 July 2025, with successful applicants chosen at random. The ballot is designed to be straightforward and inclusive, ensuring the opportunity is open to all Tuvaluans without class bias.
Demand and impact: A nation in motion
The response has been overwhelming. Within the first four days, 3,125 Tuvaluans—30% of the nation’s 11,200 citizens—had registered. By early July, the total had risen to 5,157 applicants, nearly half the population, reflecting the urgency many families feel as rising seas and saltwater intrusion make life on the islands increasingly precarious.
Those selected through the ballot receive permanent residency in Australia. They gain access to Medicare, public schooling, and family benefits, along with full rights to live, work, and study anywhere in the country. They can also travel freely between Tuvalu and Australia, maintaining ties to their land and culture even as they build new lives abroad.
The annual 280-person cap is intended to balance Tuvalu’s need for a secure migration pathway with the risks of rapid depopulation, which could weaken its economy and institutions. Australian officials have said this quota could be reassessed if conditions worsen.
Announcing the Falepili Union treaty and mobility pathway at the Pacific Islands Forum in November 2023, the Australian PM said:
“We recognise the climate crisis is the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and wellbeing of the peoples of the Pacific. … Australia will establish a dedicated intake, known as a special mobility pathway, to allow Tuvaluans to come to Australia to live, work and study. There will be an initial cap of 280 Tuvaluans eligible per year.”
Broader lessons: A model for climate mobility
The Falepili Mobility Pathway is widely seen as a potential blueprint for climate-related migration frameworks. By pairing a limited migration scheme with continued investment in adaptation—such as Australia’s support for the Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project (TCAP) and contributions to the Tuvalu Trust Fund—it offers both safety for those who relocate and resilience for those who remain.
The treaty also reinforces Australia’s wider strategic role in the Pacific, balancing humanitarian imperatives with regional stability and mutual respect, embodied in the Tuvaluan concept of “falepili,” which means good neighbourliness and care.
For Tuvalu, this pathway offers dignity, future security, and a chance to uphold cultural identity even as the land transforms. For the world, it marks a catalytic shift from reactive asylum policies to proactive, bilateral frameworks centred on planned and dignified climate mobility. For policymakers, it provides a case study in how migration, adaptation, and partnership can be interwoven to serve both vulnerable states and global climate justice.