We wanted to visit one or two other islands north of Funafuti en route to Kiribati, so, we wrote a letter requesting permission and we gave a copy to both Immigration and Customs (at the Government building, not at the wharf). It is still unclear who is in charge of this process, and it seemed like maybe there was a bit of turf war going on. Two other boats before us had requested permission only from Customs and they were denied. I personally talked to the lady at the Immigration office, and I believe that she was the one who got the ball rolling to get the permissions. To cover all bases, we were glad we submitted letters to both offices.
However, when our approvals came back there was some conflicting information. The immigration office told us we had permission to stop for 1 day and that they would call the police on the islands and that no letters were needed. The customs office asked us how long we wanted and when I said one week he said no problem. He gave us letters that gave us permission for one week. (When we got to Nanumea, the Police Officer originally told us we only had one day permission, but then when we showed him our letter from customs, he honored the one week.)
The process for getting these approvals took well over a week, and many follow up visits to both immigration and customs. All of the boats that we are aware of were approved once they made their request to both customs AND immigration.
On our way back south I emailed the Immigration office in Funafuti requesting permission to stop at Nanumea inbound. Surprisingly, my email was answered immediately, but permission was denied. She said that their laws only allow for stopping outbound, not inbound.
Gresham Family Exodus 