19 Nov 2014

Nauru's hefty visa fee keeps journalists out of country

5:06 pm on 19 November 2014

The Nauru goverment has confirmed that no journalist has applied for a visa to enter the country this year after the government hiked its non-refundable application fee by almost 4,000 percent.

Nauru is trying to overturn a decision that froze the country's bank accounts.

Nauru is trying to overturn a decision that froze the country's bank accounts. Photo: AFP

Nauru raised the non-refundable fee from 200 US dollars to more than 7000 dollars in January.

The increase has been widely criticised as a move to ban foreign journalists from reporting on the Australian-run asylum seeker detention camp on the island.

In February, Nauru's home affairs minister, Charmaine Scotty, accused foreign media of inflicting significant damage on Nauru through negative reporting about the island.

But the media organisation, Reporters Without Borders, has said Nauru is violating its own constitution and the fee is nothing less than a ban on foreign media visits.

Get the RNZ app

for ad-free news and current affairs