Permenant Migration

i moved to fiji 20 year ago. to move to fiji permannetly you must be
a highly qualified proffesional that brings skill to fiji that can not be found locally. for this a a business registered in fiji must sponsor you and arrange for your work permit,
you may sing up with some NGO for some volunteer stuff,
or you may invest in a business or set up business in fiji, this needs lot of dollars nowadays. contact the fiji trade and investment board www.ftib.org.fj for requirements and info...
do you know fiji, have you been here.

I am in the process of migrating there but I am engaged to a local...

To do it via a work permit is a mimimum of $250k investment into a business and then you must have a local as a share in your company... which screams "Be careful"

You really need to go in with your eyes wide open..... if you have the finances,, go and rent a house in a local area,, not expat area and get to know some locals,, anyone can come in on a 4 month tourist visa,, so every 4 months just fly to a neighbouring country and return for a new tourist visa...This gives you an opportunity to try before you buy..

Retiring here and setting up business here is 2 very very different things... I have seen a local village sabotage a $500k business simply because the western owners wouldnt continue giving unwarranted money to the chief and his pose mates on demand... business concepts are not something Fijians are strong on. Budgets and limited funds arent words they want to hear.

ok so thats a yucky side of Fiji,,, yes its paradise and a fabulous loving culture,, but come with an open mind and dont show anyone the size of your wallet.

Another bit of advice is dont buy land... lease it,,, I personally think you are safer that way..... with tribes and land ownership issues its easy to find yourself in a land dispute even though you bought the land from the person on the title,,,, doesnt always mean in fiji what it means back home

:-)

With all those stories of poor business practices, plus the coup, is it any wonder that Fiji is the economic basket case that is. When I was there in July, due to censorship , there was very little news in the Fiji Times - usually sport eg front page one day was a full page story on the Fiji woman's volley ball team..

Great place to visit, but why would anyone (other than the Chinese) invest there?

If you are looking at losing all your money then Fiji is the place to go and live. Good luck you will need it.

I am looking to move to Fiji permanently

In what way? To retire? To live and work there? Your purpose and intentions will be very important in evaluating whether it is risky or not.

If you haven't been to Fiji yet, then why did you choose the place? If you have already been to Fiji, partly as a 'scouting' mission, then you ought to have gained some sense of what the living/immigration conditions are, and to build some local contacts, talking with people about life there. That would be the smart and essential thing to do.

To be blunt about the matter, an LP travel forum strikes me as an odd place to be asking the question..it suggests you know very little about Fiji. So, you have not taken the essential step of building up some basic personal experience with the country and conditions BEFORE committing to a permanent move.

If, for whatever reason, you're contemplating immigrating to Fiji, then take a long visit to the country first.