Mauritius · Citizenship by naturalisation
Citizenship by Naturalisation
Governed by the Mauritius Citizenship Act 1968. The USD 500,000 investment route to a reduced 2-year residence qualification is a ministerial discretion, not an entitlement, and is not published as a programme.
The Mauritian passport is the second-strongest in Africa at 147 destinations including Schengen, the UK and China — genuinely useful. But the renunciation requirement for naturalised citizens makes this a replacement passport, not an additional one, which disqualifies it for most UHNW families.
Qualifying routes
12 months' continuous residence immediately before application, plus 5 years' aggregate residence in the preceding 7 years
the Minister may accept 2 years' continuous residence instead where at least USD 500,000 has been invested in Mauritius
registration route with a shorter qualifying period
The facts
- Qualifying figure
- $500k
- Total landed cost
- Nominal official fees; the cost is the underlying USD 500k investment and the years of residence
- Timeline
- 12–36 months — ministerial discretion with no published service standard; opaque and politically sensitive
- Physical presence
- 12 months' continuous residence immediately before application, plus 5 years' aggregate in the preceding 7 (or 2 years' continuous under the investor discretion)
- Family
- spouse via a separate registration routeminor children of a citizen
- Permanent residency
- not applicable — naturalisation is the end of the path
- Citizenship
- This is the citizenship route
- Language test
- adequate knowledge of English or another language current in Mauritius, and of the responsibilities of a citizen
- Dual citizenship
- Not permitted — you would have to renounce
- Requirements
- residence qualification (5 or 7 years, or 2 with USD 500k invested)12 months' continuous residence immediately precedinggood characteradequate knowledge of English or another language current in Mauritiusintention to continue residing in Mauritiusrenunciation of other nationality absent special approval
- A naturalising alien must renounce their existing nationality and take the oath of allegiance unless granted special approval. Mauritius-by-origin citizens have held dual nationality since 1995; naturalised citizens generally have not. This is the single most misrepresented fact about Mauritius in the citizenship industry.
- The 2-year investor discretion is exactly that — discretionary, unpublished, unappealable, and not something to underwrite a plan on.
- The applicant must intend to continue to reside in Mauritius; a naturalisation-and-leave plan is contrary to the statutory condition.
- Commonwealth citizens qualify on 5 years' residence; everyone else needs 7. Check your nationality before modelling the timeline.
- There is no published processing standard and decisions are ministerial — timelines of two to three years are common and there is no right of appeal.