Business visitors holding passports of the 105 visa exempt countries will be able to enter Fiji without prior application from November 15th.

Immigration Minister, Pio Tikoduadua says visitors from countries including the United States, India, China, Israel and France will be able to work in Fiji for up to 14 days and will receive business visitor permits upon arrival.

Tikoduadua says this includes short visits by skilled foreign nationals, to address the loss of valuable skills through permanent and temporary migration.

“For some years, this has been an unnecessarily complicated process, it delays the arrival of critically needed services and adds to the work of the Immigration Department. From 15th November, citizens of all visa exempt countries who are entering Fiji for business purposes will receive business visitor permits on arrival.”

Tikoduadua says people visiting Fiji for meetings, conferences, exhibitions, workshops or training are not regarded as business visitors and may do so on ordinary visitor’s permits, as they do now.

He adds this new measure will eliminate the need for the Immigration Department to approve the short-term business travel needs of hundreds of visitors every year.

Meanwhile the Immigration Department also launched its revamped website today.

Tikoadua says the website is a ‘one-stop shop’ for information on all immigration services and provides links to forms and reference documents that assist with lodgement of applications.

The revamped website allows interaction with immigration officers to track or follow up applications and also includes reporting of suspicious activity including indicators of transnational crime, human trafficking, exploitation and any form of violation of foreign workers’ rights.