Tuvalu customs
Apply for visa
Free import
• For travelers aged 18 or older: 1 L of spirits or wine, and 200 cigarettes.
• Personal and household effects of you and your family, and small gifts declared as such. Passengers' baggage of this kind does not need a formal customs entry.
• Visitors may bring in goods for their own use during their stay (except food, alcohol and tobacco) as temporary imports; customs may ask you to apply for this on arrival.
• Present your baggage for customs examination on arrival, answer the officer's questions and, if asked, complete a written baggage declaration. Duty must be paid on goods above the allowances.
Currency
• Tuvalu uses the Australian dollar (AUD) together with its own Tuvaluan coins.
• Authorised officers may seize and detain cash worth AUD 1,000 or more that is being brought into or taken out of Tuvalu if they have reasonable grounds to suspect it comes from, or is intended for, a serious crime.
• There are no ATMs in Tuvalu and credit or debit cards are not accepted, so bring enough Australian dollars in cash for your whole stay.
Prohibited
• Illegal drugs, including prepared opium and pipes or other equipment for smoking opium
• Counterfeit coins, currency or banknotes of any country
• Indecent or obscene publications (including electronic publications) and other indecent or obscene articles
• Flick knives, gravity knives and knuckle-dusters
• Imitation firearms that could be mistaken for real ones
• Gaming machines for games of chance
• Food declared unfit for human consumption
• Matches containing white or yellow phosphorus
Restricted
• You must declare animals, plants, their products, soil and other biosecurity risk items on the passenger arrival biosecurity declaration. Biosecurity officers may question you and inspect your baggage; failing to declare is an offence.
• The Director of Biosecurity may require an import permit and a sanitary or phytosanitary certificate from the country of origin. A permit must be applied for before the goods leave that country. Items that do not meet the requirements may be sent back or destroyed.
• Live animals, including pets, are subject to biosecurity import requirements. Check the conditions with the Director of Biosecurity well before you travel.
• Honey, products containing honey, bees and used beekeeping equipment need written permission from the Agricultural Officer.
• Soil, sand, clay and similar material may be imported only directly from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, the Solomon Islands or Hawaii, with a government certificate that it is free from pests and disease.
• Firearms and ammunition must be declared to customs on arrival, together with an import licence from the Commissioner of Police. Visitors can apply to the officer in charge of police at the place of arrival for an interim licence (valid for 14 days) for their personal firearms; otherwise the firearms are held by customs.
• Tear gas and similar gases, and devices for using them, need a licence from the Commissioner of Police.
• For travelers aged 18 or older: 1 L of spirits or wine, and 200 cigarettes.
• Personal and household effects of you and your family, and small gifts declared as such. Passengers' baggage of this kind does not need a formal customs entry.
• Visitors may bring in goods for their own use during their stay (except food, alcohol and tobacco) as temporary imports; customs may ask you to apply for this on arrival.
• Present your baggage for customs examination on arrival, answer the officer's questions and, if asked, complete a written baggage declaration. Duty must be paid on goods above the allowances.
Currency
• Tuvalu uses the Australian dollar (AUD) together with its own Tuvaluan coins.
• Authorised officers may seize and detain cash worth AUD 1,000 or more that is being brought into or taken out of Tuvalu if they have reasonable grounds to suspect it comes from, or is intended for, a serious crime.
• There are no ATMs in Tuvalu and credit or debit cards are not accepted, so bring enough Australian dollars in cash for your whole stay.
Prohibited
• Illegal drugs, including prepared opium and pipes or other equipment for smoking opium
• Counterfeit coins, currency or banknotes of any country
• Indecent or obscene publications (including electronic publications) and other indecent or obscene articles
• Flick knives, gravity knives and knuckle-dusters
• Imitation firearms that could be mistaken for real ones
• Gaming machines for games of chance
• Food declared unfit for human consumption
• Matches containing white or yellow phosphorus
Restricted
• You must declare animals, plants, their products, soil and other biosecurity risk items on the passenger arrival biosecurity declaration. Biosecurity officers may question you and inspect your baggage; failing to declare is an offence.
• The Director of Biosecurity may require an import permit and a sanitary or phytosanitary certificate from the country of origin. A permit must be applied for before the goods leave that country. Items that do not meet the requirements may be sent back or destroyed.
• Live animals, including pets, are subject to biosecurity import requirements. Check the conditions with the Director of Biosecurity well before you travel.
• Honey, products containing honey, bees and used beekeeping equipment need written permission from the Agricultural Officer.
• Soil, sand, clay and similar material may be imported only directly from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, the Solomon Islands or Hawaii, with a government certificate that it is free from pests and disease.
• Firearms and ammunition must be declared to customs on arrival, together with an import licence from the Commissioner of Police. Visitors can apply to the officer in charge of police at the place of arrival for an interim licence (valid for 14 days) for their personal firearms; otherwise the firearms are held by customs.
• Tear gas and similar gases, and devices for using them, need a licence from the Commissioner of Police.