Fiji Retirement Visa | An Incomplete Guide
What is retirement visa?
Retirement visas are a type of passive income visa that has been popular worldwide since the 1980s. Typically, they are issued to retirees who have sufficient retirement funds or stable income.
In general, global retirement visas have the following characteristics:
1. Applicant Qualifications: Typically, retirement visas require applicants to be retirees, reach a certain age, or have retirement funds.
2. Restrictions on Employment: Visa holders are usually not allowed to work locally.
3. Path to Permanent Residency: After residing in the destination country for a certain period, retirement visa holders can often apply for permanent residency or even citizenship.
If you’re interested in retirement visas or passive income visas, you might want to read our informative post: ‘Global Passive Income Visa | An Incomplete Guide‘.
Fiji Retirement Visa:
The Fiji Retirement Visa Program (FIJI residence permit on assured income) has been operating steadily since 2007. This visa is issued to foreigners who have sufficient passive income from abroad to support their living and spending in Fiji.
Although the Fiji Retirement Visa requires applicants to be retirees, there are no explicit restrictions on pension amounts or retiree status. Officially, the minimum age for applicants is 45 years, but in practice, applicants aged 40 to 44 may also be granted visas on a special approval basis.
Given Fiji’s size, the number of retirement visas issued by the local government each year is extremely limited. Overall, to apply for a Fiji Retirement Visa, you need to meet some basic criteria:
1. Be 45 or older, or at least 40 years old, in good health, with no criminal record;
2. Have a stable passive income: The local authorities have not specified a clear income requirement for applicants. In practice, having a deposit of at least 100,000 Fijian dollars (about 44,300 US dollars) in a local bank generally qualifies you for this visa.
Additionally, if you purchase property in Fiji, the deposit requirement can be significantly reduced;
For households with secondary applicants, a couple generally needs to show a local bank deposit of 130,000 Fijian dollars (about 57,600 US dollars); for families of three to five, the requirement is 140,000 Fijian dollars (about 62,000 US dollars).
3. Neither the primary nor any secondary applicants can engage in salaried work in Fiji.
Application Process:
Currently, all Fijian immigration visas, including the retirement visa, can be applied for online. The required process can be divided into the following steps:
1. Complete the deposit: To apply for the Fiji retirement visa, you first need to go to Fiji, open an account at a local bank, and transfer the required minimum deposit amount.
2. Submit the application: After completing the deposit and gathering all necessary documents, you can fill out the application form online and submit your application.
Required documents include:
- Applicant identity documents: This includes passports for all primary and secondary applicants, 2 passport-sized photos, and documents proving relationships such as birth certificates and marriage certificates.
- The application form: You need to download, fill out, and upload an application form online, and submit a letter stating that you have retired and wish to live in Fiji.
- Proof of income: You need to provide adequate proof of passive income, with the best form of proof being a deposit in a local bank.
- Medical report: All primary and secondary applicants must provide a medical examination report issued within three months before the date of the application.
- Criminal record certificate: All adult primary and secondary applicants must provide a criminal record certificate from regions where they have resided for more than one year in the past ten years.
Documents from outside Fiji must be notarized, and non-English documents must be translated into English.
The visa fee for the Fiji retirement visa is 475.35 Fijian dollars, approximately 211 USD. The entire application process takes up to 21 working days.
Minimum Residency Requirement:
The Fiji retirement visa has no minimum residency requirement; you can continue to hold the visa without entering Fiji.
Dependents:
For the Fiji retirement visa, the primary applicant’s spouse and financially dependent children under 21 can obtain residency permits as secondary applicants.
Visa Validity:
The Fiji retirement visa is valid for up to three years and can be continually renewed under the original conditions upon expiration.
Fiji does not offer a permanent residency card in the true sense; long-term residency permits are merely stickers in the passport.
Foreigners who have resided in Fiji for more than five years within the ten years prior to submitting their application, and who have mastered one of the official languages (English, Fijian, or Hindi), may be eligible to apply for naturalization in Fiji.
Official Links:
FIJI residence permit on assured income: https://immigration.gov.fj/residence-on-assured-income-permit-application/