The Fiji government has approved two new immigration offices — one in Nakasi and another in Rakiraki — and is targeting the end of May 2026 to complete system upgrades and open both branches, Immigration Minister Viliame Naupoto told Parliament on Wednesday. New enrolment kits and technical equipment for the offices are being sea freighted and are expected to arrive on April 1, 2026, he said, marking the latest push to decentralise services and ease pressure on the main Suva office.
Naupoto said the Nakasi office has already secured the necessary approvals and will proceed to an office fit-out once the enrolment kits arrive. “This new office will ease congestion in the Suva office, suddenly reducing travel time for residents in surrounding communities (Suva‑Nausori corridor) and bring immigration services closer to the people,” he told MPs, stressing the move is intended to speed up passport and immigration services for suburban communities that currently travel into the capital.
Plans for the Rakiraki branch have advanced to finalising a site, Naupoto added. He said his permanent secretary, the permanent secretary for the Civil Service and staff from the Office Accommodation Unit recently visited Rakiraki to confirm the location. Like Nakasi, the Rakiraki office’s technical equipment is expected to arrive on April 1. Naupoto said the new office will benefit communities across Ra Province as well as Tavua and Wainibuka, which now often make lengthy trips to Lautoka or Suva for immigration business.
The ministry’s timeline calls for upgrades to the passport system and the physical set‑ups at Nakasi and Rakiraki to be completed by the end of May 2026, after which the branches will be opened to the public. The expansion is part of a broader decentralisation drive to improve public access, reduce queues and make service delivery more efficient across Viti Levu and other regions.
Naupoto also told Parliament that the Immigration Department is planning relocations of its Savusavu and Lautoka offices. Those moves, he said, aim to “improve delivery service and provide a more professional, secure and accommodating workplace for staff and our customers in the North.” No firm dates or new locations for those relocations were provided in Wednesday’s statement.
The latest announcement builds on earlier government measures to address passport demand and processing backlogs. In November 2025 the ministry said it had ordered additional passport booklets to ease shortages and flagged a Nakasi branch among remedies to reduce congestion at the Suva office. The decentralisation push also arrives amid wider criticism from some industries, including shipping operators, who have warned delays in immigration processing can disrupt business operations; officials say new branches and upgraded systems are intended to alleviate such bottlenecks.
Leave a comment