Asia and Oceania

Insurance

You should take out comprehensive medical and travel insurance covering all eventualities, including cover for medical evacuation by air ambulance, before you travel, particularly if you plan to engage in adventure sports.  You should check any exclusions, and that your policy covers you for all the activities you want to undertake.  See Travel Insurance for more details.

 

Here's how we can help if things go wrong.

Mobile phones

The mobile phone network generally works well in cities and large towns but coverage on the edge of build-up areas, in rural areas and on the many outlying islands can be very limited or non-existent. You can use your UK mobile phone in Fiji if global roaming has been activated, but making and receiving calls can be expensive. Many UK mobile phones will not work in Fiji, as your mobile phone provider may not have an international roaming agreement with Fiji's mobile phone providers, Vodafone and Digicel. Many visitors prefer to buy a Fiji SIM card on arrival. These are relatively cheap to buy and calls, both local and international usually cost less than using a UK SIM card.

Consular assistance in Fiji

The British High Commission is located in Suva, around 200kms from the main holiday resort areas in the west.  There may thus be some delay in rendering assistance to those who encounter problems in the west, given the distance involved, time taken to reach the west from Suva and the difficulties with travel on the Suva to Nadi road after dark.

Consular Registration

Register with our LOCATE service to tell us when and where you are travelling abroad or where you live abroad so our consular and crisis staff can provide better assistance to you in an emergency. 

Replacing your passport

If you need a new passport, application forms can be downloaded from the Internet.  The British High Commission in Suva does not issue passports, but applications for a new passport should be submitted to the High Commission for processing.  Where possible, you are advised to apply at least two months before your passport is due to expire. Please note that you can apply up to nine months before your current passport expires.  Any remaining period of validity will be credited to your replacement passport. You will be allowed to retain your old passport while waiting for the replacement to be processed and returned.

We advise you to keep a photocopy of the relevant pages of your passport, to avoid any complications.

Where necessary the High Commission can issue an Emergency Passport or a Temporary Passport.  Emergency Passports are not machine readable, and are valid only for a single journey back to the UK using agreed transit points, or to Commonwealth countries, provided a prior arrangement exists with the authorities of the Commonwealth country concerned.  Temporary Passports are machine readable and valid for one year.

Money

Most tourist hotels and many restaurants accept credit cards.  But not all ATMs accept the full range of credit cards issued overseas.  The Australian and New Zealand Bank (ANZ) and Westpac ATMs accept UK Visa and Mastercard, and UK debit cards with Maestro and/or Cirrus symbols.