More than 700 companies are applying for permits to get foreign workers, 6,460 permits were issued as of January 2025 and about 5000 illegal migrants are in Fiji.
These are just some of the latest figures presented to Parliament regarding migrant workers in Fiji.
It has been highlighted that migrant workers are needed in Fiji for several reasons, primarily tied to labour shortage and skill gaps in specific industries.
Foreign workers in Fiji
The Minister for Immigration, Viliame Naupoto, has told Parliament that a total of 6,460 work permits were issued between August 2023 and January 2025 to 774 registered employers.
The work permits include all categories of permits granted to foreign nationals for employment in Fiji. This figure encompasses both short-term and long-term work permits across various sectors, reflecting the demand for skilled and unskilled labour in the country.
The data provides insights into workforce trends, employer needs, and the effectiveness of immigration policies in facilitating employment while maintaining regulatory compliance. The permits issued per year were as follows:
- 2023 – 1641 permits
- 2024 – 4891 permits
- 2025 – 1121 permits
Mr Naupoto also provided a breakdown of work permits issued to the public and private sectors. He said the Fiji Immigration system was not designed to differentiate between work permits issued for the public and private sectors, as it operates based on predefined settings. However, data does allow us to verify the number of employers registered within the system. A total of 774 registered employers in Fiji applied for work permits between August 2023 and January 2025. Data provided shows 444 employers applied for work permits. The breakdown is as follows:
- Agriculture – 28 companies
- Construction Industry – 155 companies
- Food & Beverage – 52 companies
- IT & Technology – 16 companies
- Manufacturing – 80 companies
- Mining – 10 companies
- Others – 202 companies
- Retail – 56 companies
- Service – 94 companies
- Tourism – 81 companies
Illegal migrants
Mr Naupoto told Parliament there are two types of removals — voluntary removal or a forced removal if a foreign worker violates any conditions of their work permits. He said in the 2024-2025 budget Fiji Immigration received $100,000 for deportation expenses. “Out of that $100,000, $48,000 is left, so it has been used up. Right now, we are tracking down 20 prohibited immigrants who have been avoiding us and those 20, I think will chew up the rest of that $48,000 that we have left,” he said. He added there are two ways to deal with illegal migrants, which were try and stop people from entering illegally and to ensure that those that enter legally remain legal.
“The first part where you try and stop illegal entry is best dealt with, in a military strategy it is called defence in-depth. You want to be tackling it way, way back before they arrive into the country,” he said. Fiji Immigration uses its Advance Passenger Information (API) and Passenger Name Record (PNR) names of passengers that are coming in flagged. “If we look at the number of illegals in the country, towards the end of last year, we had about 8000. We did a cleaning up of the data. For now, as it stands, it is just a little over 5000 from the 8000 as of today.”
Review of Immigration Act 2023
The minister said they are reviewing the Immigration Act 2003 and one of the changes being looked at is to introduce issuing infringement notices. “If you are employing foreigners and you are not, for example, extending their permits on time, you will get issued with an infringement notice, both to the employer and to the employee (the foreign worker themselves),” he said. He said this is aimed at stopping exploitation of migrant workers. “The message that we want to send out to these foreign workers, please, do not just got to the Ministry of Labour, tell anyone if you are being abused and we can come in and help you.”
Concerns by FTUC
Meanwhile, the Fiji Trades Union Congress this week raised its concerns at the large number of foreign workers coming into Fiji and taking up jobs that could easily be done by locals. FTUC national secretary Felix Anthony said it appears there is no control over who comes and whether companies had actually advertised but are unable to recruit workers locally.
“There is no checks and balance or criteria for approvals to bring in foreign workers. It’s open season at the moment,” he said.
FTUC added that it noticed foreign workers doing all kinds of jobs, even filling supermarket shelves.
“We have also received many complaints from these foreign workers about them being exploited, contracts not being honoured, violation of our minimum standards and the level of intimidation.”
Mr Anthony said these workers were constantly threatened to be sent back if they did not like what they were offered by their employers.
“We call upon the Ministry of Employment and the Immigration Department to better manage the inflow of foreign workers and ensure proper oversight.”
“Foreign workers must not become the substitute for cheap labour in Fiji. We call for the reintroduction of a joint committee of the two government departments to vet any application for bringing in foreign workers to work in Fiji.”
