Mauritius Residence by Property Investment and Occupation Permit

Mauritius sells residence the simple way: buy one approved property at USD 375,000 or more and you and your immediate family get a residence permit that lasts as long as you own the asset. The purchase must sit inside a government-approved real estate scheme (PDS, IRS, RES, Smart City, or a Ground+2 apartment), all administered by the Economic Development Board. There is no government donation, no fund subscription, and no points test. For people who do not want to buy real estate, the same country offers far cheaper doors: a USD 50,000 transfer into a Mauritian company buys a 10-year investor occupation permit, and retirees aged 50 and over can qualify by transferring USD 24,000 a year. This is one of the most flexible residence menus in Africa, and the processing is fast, typically two to six months.

On mobility, be clear-eyed. The residence permit itself gives you the right to live in a stable, English- and French-speaking island economy, not a strong travel document. The Mauritian passport is the catch, and it is genuinely good: the strongest in Africa, with visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to roughly 150 to 160 destinations. But that passport is years away. The residence permit is a place to live and a tax base, not a second passport. If your primary goal is travel freedom now, this is not the program. If your goal is a low-tax base with optional eventual citizenship, it is a strong fit.

The cost and risk truth is mostly about the property route. USD 375,000 is the entry ticket, but the real number is higher once you add transfer taxes, legal fees and agency costs. Critically, from 1 July 2026 the registration duty and land transfer tax on non-citizen purchases double from 5 percent to 10 percent, so the all-in cost of buying jumped meaningfully in mid-2026. Your capital is also tied up in a single illiquid asset on a small island market, and the permit is contingent on continued ownership: sell the property and the property-based permit falls away. The USD 50,000 occupation-permit route avoids most of this but requires you to actually run a business and meet ongoing substance and turnover expectations. Neither route is refundable in the way a deposit might be; you are buying assets and paying fees, not parking a returnable sum.

Tax is the real draw, and it deserves an honest correction. Mauritius has no capital gains tax and no inheritance or estate tax, which is the durable advantage. The familiar 15 percent flat income tax, however, is out of date. From 1 July 2025 Mauritius moved to progressive brackets of 0 percent up to MUR 500,000, 10 percent to MUR 1 million, and 20 percent above that, plus a temporary Fair Share Contribution of 15 percent on very high net incomes over MUR 12 million. Residents are taxed on worldwide income, but foreign income is only taxed to the extent it is remitted to Mauritius, which keeps the system territorial-leaning in practice for many globally mobile residents. The result is still attractive, just not the simple 15 percent line that older marketing repeats. Coordinate the remittance planning with qualified counsel before you rely on it.