Problems are likely to be exacerbated by Fiji's likely suspension from the Commonwealth.
Foreign Minister Phil Goff predicted yesterday that Fiji would be suspended from the Commonwealth when the organisation's ministerial action group met overnight in London.
"I expect that the CMAG will support the suspension of the Fijian republic from the councils of the Commonwealth.
"That is a step that follows automatically from a situation where a non-constitutional government exists. Without doubt we have in Fiji today a government that does not have constitutional authority."
The action group of Commonwealth Foreign Ministers was also scheduled to hold emergency talks on the Solomons crisis.
Mr Prasad said when times were normal his office received 100 passport applications a day.
The department's inner-city office was full of people putting their applications in yesterday, hoping they would be processed quickly once new books arrived from London around mid-July.
Most were Fiji Indians, afraid of being identified. Some spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they hoped to start new lives elsewhere.
A Fiji Indian man said he believed there would be a mass exodus.
"Our fathers' fathers came here more than 100 years ago to work the land and now there is no future for us," he said, referring to the influx of 60,000 Indian labourers who were brought to Fiji between 1879 and 1916.
"We have to go for our own futures and for our children."
Another man said he hoped to go to New Zealand or Australia to set up a business. He said Indian farmers would be able to turn their hand to agriculture in New Zealand.
Some Fiji Indians have called for New Zealand and Australia to relax their immigration policies to allow easier access for those who want to flee. They complained that the New Zealand Immigration Service office in Suva was shut.
A spokesman for the service, Ian Smith, said the office had relocated to Nadi and staff were checking the answerphone messages in the Suva office. There had been no changes in entry policy as a result of the crisis, though visitors in New Zealand were likely to have their visas extended.
"Any Fijian national needs to apply for a visitor's visa to come for a visit," said Mr Smith. Authorities would deal with particular cases of hardship or emergency.
"But for all of that we have not been deluged with queries or applications ... there has been a steady stream." He did not have numbers.
Thousands of Fiji Indians fled to New Zealand after the 1987 coups.
George Speight talks to IRN's Barry Soper
(10 min).
