Visaja EditorialEN Site Edition

The world's smallest republic has a new name: Naoero

A constitutional amendment restores the island's pre-colonial name - entry rules stay the same, and documents naming Nauru remain valid.

The Pacific island nation of Nauru is now officially the Republic of Naoero. Parliament's constitutional amendment was certified on 13 May 2026 and the United Nations was formally notified on 26 June; a planned referendum was dropped after the government concluded that the native name — of which Nauru is the colonial-era rendering — needed no further approval.

For travellers, nothing changes at the border: the visa-on-arrival regime continues for all nationalities, and passports, visas and bookings that name Nauru remain valid. Expect both names in airline and booking systems for a while — the announced country-code change from NRU to NRO is not yet reflected in the ISO standard.

Citizens are now known as dei-Naoero, and government communications have already switched to the new name.