Visas, Permits, Customs and Duty of Care in Fiji

Running an international event in Fiji touches six regulators: Immigration for delegates and crew, the Revenue and Customs Service for equipment, the Civil Aviation Authority for drones, the Biosecurity Authority for anything organic, Film Fiji for filming, and a Divisional Liquor Licensing Authority for alcohol served outside a licensed room. This is the map of all six.

It is also honest about the gaps. Several rules planners most want in writing — whether an unpaid panellist needs a permit, what a special-use liquor licence costs, how long a film permit takes — are published by nobody, and this page says so rather than filling the space.

Guideline only. This is a publication, not legal advice, and Fijian requirements change. Confirm your own position with the Fiji Department of Immigration, the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service, the Civil Aviation Authority of Fiji, the Biosecurity Authority of Fiji and Film Fiji before you commit. Last reviewed 11 September 2026.

Can delegates simply fly in on a visitor permit?

For most nationalities, yes. Fiji's visa-exemption list runs to more than a hundred countries and territories — New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Japan, Singapore, most of Europe and most of the Pacific among them. Exempt nationals receive a visitor permit of up to four months on arrival, extendable once by two months, with no further extension after that.

Immigration lists attending "a conference or meeting" among the reasons visitors come to Fiji, so a delegate attending sessions is squarely within the permit. What it forbids is narrow: the permit "cannot be used to look for employment" or to "work (or hold any form of employment)".

Immigration's published checklist is short: a passport valid for more than six months, a confirmed return or onward ticket, proof of sufficient funds, and a completed paper arrival card. Two warnings. There is no Fiji electronic travel authority and no digital arrival card in force that we could verify on any official page; commercial sites offering a "Fiji digital arrival card" are not official. And anyone transiting Fiji for another destination within 72 hours of arrival needs a transit visa obtained before arrival — a genuine trap for a delegate routing through Nadi to Vanuatu or Tonga.

Non-exempt nationals need a Single Entry Visa at FJ$93 (three months, one journey) or a Multiple Entry Visa at FJ$185 (twelve months). There is no separate "business visa" class. Extending a visitor permit costs FJ$93 and takes three to five working days over the counter at Suva.

When does someone need a work permit?

This is the question with the most money and the least published guidance attached to it.

Immigration publishes no day-count exemption. No rule says a two-day engagement escapes a permit. There is also no published list of occupations — nothing for "speaker", "trainer", "performer", "technician" or "AV crew". Eligibility for a Short Term Work Permit turns on demonstrating an urgent need for the applicant's expertise, not on a job title.

Two instruments exist:

Most short engagements sit under the Business Visitor Permit, applied for by email with an invitation letter, return ticket, proof of funds and passport biodata page, with a stated response time of two to twenty-four hours. Immigration states plainly that "appropriate work permits" are required "for work or business, beyond 21 days".

The Short Term Work Permit is a heavier lift: lodged through the Immi Hub portal with a police report, a medical report, an employment contract, certified qualifications, a professional body endorsement, company registration and a tax compliance certificate, all in English. Immigration publishes no processing time, stating only that times "may vary due to individual circumstances" — so you cannot plan a date around it. Start early.

One constraint catches people: someone already in Fiji on a visitor permit cannot apply for a work permit while in the country.

The working rule: if a person is being paid to be at your event, treat a permit as required and ask Immigration in writing for a ruling on your facts. Do speakers, trainers and crew need a work permit in Fiji? works through the categories.

How do you get equipment into Fiji?

Fiji is not an ATA Carnet country. The ATA system covers roughly eighty customs territories, and in this region that means Australia and New Zealand only. A carnet issued at home will not clear your staging, lighting or exhibition kit into Nadi.

The mechanism is temporary importation of "privileged goods" under the Customs Regulations 1986, and the categories are directly on point. Regulation 97 includes "goods for display or use at exhibitions, fairs, meetings or similar events" and "goods which are imported solely for use in connection with some particular project or occasion".

Read the security line twice. There is no published bond formula and no cap — it is officer discretion, so any figure a freight agent quotes is an estimate of an official's judgement, not a tariff. Budget a deposit equal to duty and VAT on the declared value and treat a smaller bond as good news. VAT is currently 12.5 per cent, reduced from 15 per cent on 1 August 2025. If your event is being filmed, note that Film Fiji issues a supporting letter functioning as "a waiver of bond for customs in regards to the filming equipment".

For hand-carried kit, the traveller allowance is personal effects plus other goods to a value of FJ$2,000; goods "intended for commercial use (e.g. samples, business equipment)" are dutiable regardless. Cash of FJ$10,000 or more must be declared. Bringing event equipment into Fiji covers clearance in full.

Anything that transmits needs a separate permit. FRCS states that "radio transmitters and telecommunications devices require an import permit from the Telecommunications Authority of Fiji" — reaching production walkie-talkies, wireless microphone systems, satellite phones and drones. TAF publishes approval in one to two days and a fee of FJ$11.25 per model or type approval, charged per model rather than per unit, so a case of twenty identical radios is one fee. TAF publishes no temporary or event spectrum licence class, so contact it directly about a licensed-band radio system.

What are the drone rules?

The Civil Aviation Authority of Fiji splits them cleanly. Recreational operators register the aircraft on CAAF form OP-137. Commercial operators — which includes any filming for an event, client or brand — must hold an authorisation applied for on form OP-138, with documentation tiered below 2kg, above 2kg and above 7kg, and liability and third-party insurance from a broker experienced in unmanned aircraft operations.

The rule that matters most for events: CAAF states that RPAS "shall not be operated over any sensitive and restricted areas… and any other public areas including resorts and hotels except with prior authorisation", and separately prohibits flying over public gatherings and sporting events. The drone shot over your gala dinner on a resort lawn is exactly the flight that needs written permission — and the 5km standoff from an international aerodrome puts much of the Nadi corridor inside a controlled zone.

CAAF publishes a commercial approval rate of FJ$365.63 per man-hour — an hourly cost-recovery rate, not a flat permit price. No penalty amounts for drone offences are published.

Do you need a film permit?

If anything is being filmed, probably. Film Fiji is unambiguous: "Yes, you will need to apply to Film Fiji for a filming permit, even if you are not applying for the Film Fiji rebate." It publishes no exemptions and no definition of "production", so whether a two-camera conference recording counts is genuinely unclear; the conservative reading is to lodge. The application needs crew biodata, a synopsis, an equipment list, the itinerary and a budget, the permit runs six months from issue, and its conditions put every other approval on the producer — "location permits, drone licenses, city/town permits and native land permission". Neither the fee nor the lead time is published.

Who licenses the alcohol?

Divisional Liquor Licensing Authorities, one per division, with a Central Liquor Board hearing appeals. This is not a municipal function. There are four licence classes — on-premises, off-premises, club use and special use — and the 2022 amending bill also refers to a temporary licence.

The permitted-hours schedule, as amended in 2023, is national and uniform, the old Suva and Nadi zones having been removed:

Here is the honest limit of what we can tell you. The consolidated Liquor Act 2006 is not retrievable from any accessible official source, so we cannot confirm from primary material whether a resort's existing licence covers a private conference function, or what an offsite or beach event requires. The "bona fide guests" wording above is suggestive, but it governs hours, not scope. No liquor licence fees are published.

If your event serves alcohol anywhere other than a licensed room inside your hotel — a beach dinner, a village setting, a marquee on a lawn — put the question to your venue and the Divisional Authority in writing, early. Do not assume the resort's licence travels with the catering.

What is your duty of care to delegates?

Three things: know where the hospitals are, insist on insurance, and understand that serious cases leave the country.

Fiji's tertiary referral centre is the Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Suva, the largest and oldest public hospital, with emergency and trauma care, surgery, intensive care and radiology. Tourism Fiji publishes a facility list covering Nadi, Lautoka and Sigatoka hospitals, private facilities in Suva, and Savusavu and Labasa in the north. Fiji has two recompression chambers, at Colonial War Memorial Hospital and Pacific Specialist Healthcare in Nadi — a material fact if your programme includes diving.

On standard of care, the Australian Government states that medical standards "aren't as high as in Australia and are limited", that "many hospitals provide only basic care", and that ambulance services are limited and affected by weather and roads. Critically: "If you become seriously ill or have an accident, you may need to be evacuated to Australia. Medical evacuation can be very expensive."

Both source governments are direct about insurance. SafeTravel advises "a comprehensive travel insurance policy… that includes provision for medical evacuation by air"; Smartraveller states cover "must cover all medical costs overseas, including evacuation", and that "if you can't afford travel insurance, you shouldn't travel". Neither publishes a dollar figure for an evacuation from Fiji, so do not put one in a delegate brief.

What will biosecurity stop at the border?

More than most planners expect, and the penalties are not nominal.

The Biosecurity Authority of Fiji requires declaration of all food, all plant material — including wooden articles and handicrafts crafted from botanical materials — all animal products, biological specimens, and a category that catches events specifically: "soil, rock, earth, mineral sample, tools used in farm, used tents, camping equipments, bicycle, golf clubs".

Read that against a typical conference shipment: timber display stands, straw or bamboo delegate gifts, food samples for a trade stand, a used marquee, branded sports gear for a team-building day. All declarable, most needing an import permit.

The penalties: a spot fine of FJ$400 for prohibited or declarable items found in baggage, and liability to prosecution with "a maximum fine of up to FJ$20,000 or… a maximum of six months imprisonment or both". The personal allowance for specific items from Australia and New Zealand is capped at 10 kilograms with receipts and will not cover a delegate gift run.

One item deserves naming separately. Tabua, whale's teeth, appear in formal welcomes and are sometimes given as gifts; import and export require authorisation from the iTaukei Affairs Board or the Department of Environment. If a tabua is part of your ceremony, raise it with your DMC well in advance and handle it with the respect the object carries.

The verdict

• Delegates are straightforward. Four months on arrival for most nationalities, and attending a conference is expressly within the permit.
• Paid participants are not. No day-count exemption, no occupation list. Get a written ruling.
• Forget your carnet. Form C.21, and a bond set at an officer's discretion.
• Drones over a resort need written permission, and the 5km aerodrome standoff covers much of Nadi.
• Alcohol outside a licensed room is an open question. Ask before you build a beach dinner around it.
• Biosecurity is the one that fines people. FJ$400 on the spot, up to FJ$20,000 on prosecution.

Next step: split your attendee list into delegates, paid participants and crew, because they follow three different rules. Then read do speakers, trainers and crew need a work permit in Fiji? and bringing event equipment into Fiji. Fiji's event infrastructure covers what is on the ground when you arrive, and Fiji DMCs, PCOs and event suppliers covers the partners who handle most of this — Rosie Holidays, Events Fiji and Team Up Events Fiji among them. Browse transport and transfers and AV and staging.