The Free Association arrangement between New Zealand and the Cook Islands is a pivotal force behind the movement of Cook Islanders between the two countries. Part of the Cook Islanders’ way of life is understanding and leveraging the different opportunities that exist across the Cook Islands, New Zealand and further afield. This paper introduces the Cook Islands and New Zealand Free Association agreement and provides background to the historical and contemporary political relationships between New Zealand and the Cook Islands. This leads into a short discussion on the different concepts of citizenship and independence, and how these relate to the Cook Islands transnational population. This paper began as a panel discussion on So- vereignty movements in the Pacific Islands at the annual meeting of German "Pazifik-Netwerk" and raises many important questions about “Where to from here for the Cook Islands?”