Mauritius · Residency by investment
Occupation Permit — Investor Category
In force at USD 50,000 under the Finance Act 2025. The Budget 2026-27 (19 June 2026) raises the minimum initial investment to USD 100,000 and resets the turnover tests to MUR 5m from year 3 and MUR 8m from year 5 for renewal. Those changes require the Finance Act 2026 and were not yet enacted at 15 July 2026 — applicants in the window should confirm which regime applies on the date of filing.
This is the cheapest credible residence permit in a zero-CGT, zero-inheritance-tax, treaty-networked jurisdiction — and unlike most African programmes it is administered by a competent agency that actually issues permits in weeks. The catch is that it is a real business permit, not a passive investment: the turnover tests bite, and the June 2026 Budget both doubled the entry price and made the tax outcome materially worse.
Qualifying routes
transfer within 60 days of issue; MUR 1.5m turnover in year 1 rising to MUR 20m cumulative by year 5; MUR 5m per year from year 6 to renew
MUR 5m turnover from year 3; MUR 8m from year 5 to renew — pending Finance Act 2026
no minimum capital where the company is registered with the EDB as an innovator and spends at least 20% of operating expenditure on qualifying R&D
The facts
- Minimum investment
- $50k
- Total landed cost
- USD 50k-100k invested capital, plus roughly USD 8-15k in EDB, legal and corporate set-up fees for a family of four; ongoing Mauritian company accounting and substance costs of roughly USD 5-10k a year. Application fee USD 50 (non-refundable) since 1 December 2025; USD 1,000 payable on approval.
- Timeline
- 1–4 months — the EDB targets a few weeks on the National E-Licensing System once the file is complete; company incorporation and bank account opening are the real bottleneck, and Mauritian bank onboarding for non-residents has slowed materially
- Physical presence
- None prescribed for the permit itself. But 183 days in a tax year (or 270 days across three years) makes you Mauritian tax-resident — which is the point for most applicants, and now costs 35% at the top.
- Family
- spouse or common-law partnerdependent children (no age cap in practice for unmarried dependent children)dependent parents
- Permanent residency
- 20-year Permanent Residence Permit after holding the OP for 5 years (raised from 3 years in September 2025), subject to MUR 15m annual turnover for each of the 5 years or MUR 75m aggregate over 5 consecutive years
- Citizenship
- Naturalisation after 7 years' residence (5 aggregate in the preceding 7 years plus 12 months continuous), or 2 years at ministerial discretion where at least USD 500,000 has been invested
- Language test
- adequate knowledge of English or another language current in Mauritius
- Dual citizenship
- Not permitted — you would have to renounce
- Requirements
- clean criminal recordmedical certificate including HIV testMauritian company registered with the EDBtransfer of the qualifying capital into a Mauritian bank account within 60 daysbusiness planpassport valid beyond the permit term
- The turnover tests are the trap, not the capital. A USD 50k investment is trivial; producing MUR 20m (roughly USD 430k) of cumulative turnover by year 5 from a real Mauritian business is not. The EDB reviews compliance in year 5 and can revoke.
- The Budget 2026-27 replaced the Fair Share Contribution with a permanent 35% band above MUR 12m of chargeable income. Mauritius's famous 15% flat rate is gone and the 'low-tax island' pitch that most advisers still use is now simply out of date.
- Dividends from Mauritian resident companies count toward the MUR 12m threshold, so an owner-manager paying themselves out of a local company can hit 35% faster than expected.
- Naturalised Mauritians must renounce their other nationality unless they obtain special ministerial approval — the 2-year investor naturalisation route is not a safe add-a-passport play.
- Mauritius exited the FATF grey list in October 2021 but faces an ESAAMLG mutual evaluation in 2027; a relisting would hit banking access hard, and local commentary through 2026 has been openly worried about backsliding.
- Mauritian bank account opening for non-resident UHNW clients is slow and increasingly declined outright; do not assume the permit delivers banking.
- Full CRS reporting — this is a transparent jurisdiction, not a secrecy one.