In Vaiaku, where coconut trees line the shores, 13-year-old Tekafa Piliota dreams of becoming a doctor.Living in Tuvalu’s capital, Funafuti, he knows achieving this means leaving his island home. The Pacific nation lacks universities and faces a dire threat: rising sea levels may render it uninhabitable.

“I would like to go to Australia to study,” Piliota states. “There is higher ground in Australia, and it might be safer during natural disasters.”

That dream could soon materialize. Applications opened this week for Tuvaluans seeking to relocate to australia under a unique climate crisis visa program, part of an agreement signed in 2023.

The Falepili Union treaty allows up to 280 Tuvaluans annually to gain permanent residency in Australia, with unrestricted travel between both nations. The agreement also includes security and disaster relief provisions.

Tuvalu’s prime minister, Feleti Teo, hailed the treaty as “groundbreaking, unprecedented and landmark”.

“There’s a lot of excitement around the migration pathway, both in Tuvalu and among our diaspora,” Teo told the Guardian.”It doesn’t mean you have to live the rest of your life in Australia. You can go in and come out as you wish.”

While the treaty offers hope, concerns linger. Some fear the departure of residents from the nation of 11,000 could cause labor shortages and cultural erosion. Others question the treaty’s implications for Tuvalu’s sovereignty and the negotiation process.

Enele Sopoaga, a former prime minister of Tuvalu, stated the treaty “was done in a secretive manner, kept away from the people, kept away from parliamentary process.”

Treaty Details and Concerns

“It doesn’t mean you have to live the rest of your life in Australia. You can go in and come out as you wish.”

The inaugural ballot for the Falepili pathway began on 16 June 2025 and closes next month. Accomplished applicants will be chosen at random. Australia’s foreign minister, Penny Wong, said it would enable “mobility with dignity, by providing Tuvaluans the prospect to live, study and work in australia as climate impacts worsen”.

The scheme differs from other migration programs in the Pacific. Unlike temporary labor pathways, successful applicants will be granted permanent residency before departure, meaning they gain access to health, education and other services as soon as they arrive in Australia. They will also be free to travel to and from Australia, to maintain connections with Tuvalu.It is wider than other migration programs,with no restrictions on age or disability.

Still,some in Tuvalu have concerns about the way the treaty was formed,and Sopoaga criticised its implementation.

“It was done almost under the influence of one partner over the recipient,” the former prime minister said.

“If you look at the treaty text, there’s nothing in there to protect Tuvalu. Nothing to deal with the impacts of climate change. Nothing,” Sopoaga says.

Anna Powles, associate professor in security studies at Massey University, also notes the treaty was negotiated quickly and “in secrecy”. She says that provisions in Article 4 “effectively give Australia veto power over Tuvalu’s national security decision-making”.

“Bundling climate assistance with military or defense-related commitments poses meaningful security risks for Pacific nations, as illustrated by the Falepili treaty between Australia and Tuvalu. Such agreements risk eroding sovereignty,” she says.

Others are worried about the drain of people and resources out of Tuvalu. Pacific labour migration researcher FotuoSamoa Tiatia says the treaty could lead to a substantial flow over time.

“These individuals often hold important roles in thier churches, villages and families. Their absence creates gaps not just in labour, but in the transmission of cultural knowledge,” Tiatia says.

Prime minister Teo challenges these concerns, arguing the pathway is intentionally two-way and “doesn’t mean you have to live the rest of your life” in Australia.

He describes the treaty as a “serious elevation in terms of our relationship with Australia”.

“Australia is now the first country to legally recognize the continuity of our statehood despite climate change and sea level rise,” Teo says, while stressing it “does not go as far as sovereignty within Australia in the event of full land loss”.

“It simply recognises future statehood in relation to where we are right now. With this elevated relationship and the opportunities that the treaty provides, I hope the people of Tuvalu can take full advantage, especially of the migration pathway.”

Students like Tekafa welcome the chance to consider a different future.

“I love the freedom here. I can go anywhere I want without fear,” he says.

“But I also think about the opportunities elsewhere. It might be hard to leave, but it could also be a good decision.”