Australia Publishes Full Conditions for Pacific Engagement Visa: Ballot First for Citizens of 12 Countries, Job Offer Required
Australia's Department of Home Affairs has published the full eligibility conditions for the Pacific Engagement Visa (subclass 192) on the official government website. The visa offers citizens of Pacific island nations and Timor-Leste a pathway to live and work in Australia permanently, but a candidate must first be randomly chosen through the PEV ballot. Once selected, the applicant receives a Notification of Selection letter with a link to the application portal and has 120 days from that date to submit a completed application online; late submissions are not accepted.
Twelve countries participate: the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. Citizens of New Zealand are explicitly excluded. Applicants must hold a valid passport from a participating country, be aged 18 to 45, and have been born in, or have a parent born in, one of the listed countries.
Selection does not guarantee a visa: the applicant or their partner must hold a formal, ongoing job offer from an Australian employer, and must meet English language, health and character requirements. The programme provides about 3,000 visas a year including partners and dependants. A separate Treaty stream allocates up to 280 places a year to Tuvaluan nationals, with a ballot registration fee of AUD 25.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 斐济苏瓦港（资料图）。公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Suva Harbour in Fiji (file photo). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
