Oceania Travel Guide

Entry Requirements

All South Pacific countries require each new arrival to have a passport that will be valid for the duration of the visit, as well as an onward or return airline ticket. Your passport should be valid for 6 months beyond the date you expect to return home.

Safeguard your passport in an inconspicuous, inaccessible place and keep a copy of the critical pages, with your passport number, in a separate place. If you lose your passport, you can go to a U.S. embassy in Fiji or Samoa, or the governor of American Samoa can issue a temporary replacement passport. Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom have high commissioners in Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga.

Note that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) recommends that every individual who travels by air have his or her own passport. In response, many countries are now requiring that children be issued their own passport to travel internationally, where before those under 16 or so may have been able to travel on a parent or guardian's passport.

The only vaccination required anywhere in the South Pacific is for yellow fever, and then only if you're coming from an infected area of South America or Africa.

Getting A Passport

Residents Of The United States -- American citizens and residents can obtain passport applications at most post offices and at regional passport offices. The fee for a new passport is US$97; for a renewal, US$67.

Whether you're applying in person or by mail, you can download passport applications from the U.S. State Department website at http://travel.state.gov. For general information, call the National Passport Agency (tel. 202/647-0518). To find your regional passport office, either check the U.S. State Department website or call the National Passport Information Center (tel. 900/225-5674); the fee is US55¢ per minute for automated information and US$1.50 per minute for operator-assisted calls.

Firms in many large cities will expedite passport applications -- at additional fees, of course. Look under "Passport" or "Passport & Visa Services" in the Yellow Pages in your local phone book. Nationally, American Passport Express (tel. 800/841-6778; www.americanpassport.com) will process your passport in a week for a fee plus the cost of the passport itself.

Residents Of Canada -- Canadian citizens can pick up passport applications at one of 28 regional passport offices, from Canada Post offices, from most travel agencies, or downloaded from Passport Canada, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Ottawa, ON K1A 0G3 (tel. 800/567-6868; www.ppt.gc.ca).

Applications may be submitted at any Passport Canada office, at post office, or sent to Passport Canada, 70 Crémazie St., Gatineau, QC J8Y 3P2. They must be accompanied by two identical passport-size photographs and proof of Canadian citizenship. Processing takes 5 to 10 days if you apply in person, or about 3 weeks by mail. Canadian children who travel must have their own passport. However, if you hold a valid Canadian passport issued before December 11, 2001, that bears the name of your child, the passport remains valid for you and your child until it expires.

Residents Of The United Kingdom -- To pick up an application for a standard 10-year passport (5-year. passport for children under 16), visit the nearest Passport Office, major post office, or travel agency. You can also contact the United Kingdom Passport Service at tel. 0870/571-0410 or visit its website at www.passport.gov.uk. Processing takes about 2 weeks (1 week if you apply at the Passport Office).

Residents Of Ireland -- You can apply for a 10-year passport at the Passport Office, Setanta Centre, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2 (tel. 01/671-1633; www.irlgov.ie/iveagh). The fee is €75. Those under age 18 and over 65 must apply for a 3-year passport, which costs €15. You can also apply at 1A South Mall, Cork (tel. 021/272-525) or at most main post offices.

Residents Of Australia -- You can pick up an application from your local post office or any branch of Passports Australia, but you must schedule an interview at the passport office to present your application materials. Call the Australian Passport Information Service at tel. 131-232, or visit the government website at www.passports.gov.au.

Residents Of New Zealand -- You can pick up a passport application at any New Zealand Passports Office or download it from their website. Contact the Passports Office at tel. 0800/225-050 in New Zealand or 04/474-8100, or log on to www.passports.govt.nz.

Customs

What You Can Bring Into The South Pacific -- Each South Pacific country or territory has its own customs laws.

What You Can Take Home From The South Pacific -- Returning U.S. citizens who have been in the South Pacific for at least 48 hours are allowed to bring back, once every 30 days, US$800 worth of merchandise duty-free (US$1,200 from American Samoa). You'll be charged a flat rate of 4% duty on the next US$1,000 worth of purchases. Be sure to have your receipts handy, since you must list every item if you're over the duty-free limits. On mailed gifts, the duty-free limit is US$100 (US$200 for American Samoa). In addition, adults can bring back 200 cigarettes (age 18 and older) and one liter of alcoholic beverages (age 21 and older). You cannot bring fresh foodstuffs into the United States; tinned foods, however, are allowed. For more information, contact the U.S. Bureau of Customs & Border Protection, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20229 (tel. 877/287-8867; www.customs.gov), and request the free pamphlet Know Before You Go. (Click on "Traveler Information," then "Know Before You Go Brochure.")

For a summary of Canadian rules, get the booklet I Declare, from the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (tel. 800/461-9999 in Canada, or 204/983-3500; www.ccra-adrc.gc.ca). Canada allows its citizens a C$750 exemption; adults are allowed to bring back duty-free one carton of cigarettes, one can of tobacco, 40 imperial ounces of liquor, and 50 cigars; check age requirements with your home province's tobacco and drinking laws. In addition, you're allowed to mail gifts to Canada valued at less than C$60 a day, provided they're unsolicited and don't contain alcohol or tobacco (write on the package "Unsolicited gift, under C$60 value"). All valuables should be declared on the Y-38 form before departure from Canada, including serial numbers of valuables you already own, such as expensive foreign cameras. Note: The C$750 exemption can be used once a year and only after an absence of 7 days.

U.K. citizens age 17 or over have a customs allowance of 200 cigarettes; 50 cigars; 250g of smoking tobacco; 2 liters of still table wine; 1 liter of spirits or strong liqueurs (over 22% by volume); 2 liters of fortified wine, sparkling wine or other liqueurs; 60ml perfume; 250ml of toilet water; and £145 worth of all other goods, including gifts and souvenirs. People under 17 are not entitled to the tobacco and alcohol allowances. For more information, contact HM Customs & Excise at tel. 0845/010-9000 (from outside the U.K., 020/8929-0152), or consult their website at www.hmce.gov.uk.

The duty-free allowance in Australia is A$400 for adults and A$200 for those under 18. Personal property mailed back from the islands should be marked "Australian goods returned" to avoid payment of duty. Upon returning to Australia, citizens age 18 or over can bring in 250 cigarettes or 250g of loose tobacco, and 2.25 liters of alcohol. If you're returning with valuable goods you owned before your trip to the South Pacific, such as foreign-made cameras, you should file form B263. A helpful brochure, available from Australian consulates or Customs offices, is Know Before You Go. For more information, call the Australian Customs Service at tel. 1300/363-263, or log on to www.customs.gov.au.

The duty-free allowance for New Zealand is NZ$700. Citizens over 17 can bring in 200 cigarettes, or 50 cigars, or 250g of tobacco (or a mixture of all three if their combined weight doesn't exceed 250g); plus 4.5 liters of wine and beer, or 1.125 liters of liquor. New Zealand currency does not carry import or export restrictions. You should fill out a certificate of export, listing the valuables you are taking out of the country; that way, you can bring them back without paying duty. Most questions are answered in a free pamphlet available at New Zealand consulates and Customs offices: New Zealand Customs Guide for Travellers, Notice no. 4. For more information, contact New Zealand Customs, The Customhouse, 17-21 Whitmore St., Box 2218, Wellington (tel. 04/473-6099 or 0800/428-786; www.customs.govt.nz).

Be Careful What You Buy -- Some South Pacific governments restrict the export of antique carvings and other artifacts of historic value. If a piece looks old, check before you buy. Jewelry made of shells and of pink or black coral is available in many countries, as is scrimshaw, but items made of black coral and whalebone cannot legally be brought back to the United States and most other Western countries.