Mauritius: Mauritius, The Right Place To Establish Your Residence

Attracting foreign capital has always been a major objective of the economic development strategy of the Republic of Mauritius. For many decades now, the island has also been a cherished destination for tourists worldwide, thanks to its never-ending white beaches, its calm turquoise lagoon, its tropical climate and its friendly and locals, among others.

Recently, the government of Mauritius has introduced the so-called "Real Estate Development Schemes" aimed at encouraging non-citizens to become permanent residents of Mauritius, either as self-employed, professionals, retired persons or investors and/or to acquire immovable property on the island. There are currently 2 such schemes; the Integrated Resort Scheme, which concerns the acquisition of luxury, high-class villas costing a minimum of USD 500,000 per villa, and the Real Estate Investment Scheme, which allows the re-deployment of small planters’ agricultural land into residential land and for the construction of real estate which can be of lesser value than USD 500,000.

While the Integrated Resort Scheme offers the non-citizen and his family the possibility of acquiring the status of permanent residents, the Real Estate Investment Scheme does not, although we shall see that the same can be achieved through other means.

The IRS enables high net-worth non-citizens who are looking for a safe alternative or additional place of residence to acquire luxury villas of international standing with top-of-the-range amenities and facilities in the most exquisite, cherry-picked locations. These amenities may include: golf courses (designed by the greatest names - Ernie Els, Rodney Wright, etc.), marina, individual swimming pools, spa and gastronomic restaurants, all set in the most exotic landscapes spreading over at least 10 hectares of the paradise island of Mauritius.

Supplementary and complementary services such as rental at times of non-occupancy, day to day management services such as security, maintenance, gardening, solid waste disposal and household services are also provided. A minimum investment of USD 500,000 (or equivalent in EUR or GBP) per villa is required and this includes the land, the construction and a fixed registration duty of USD 70,000.

This will enable the non-citizen, as well as his or her spouse and dependents under the age of 18, to obtain permanent residency status. The non-citizen will be able to acquire the villa either in his own name or through a domestic company, a foreign company registered in Mauritius, a trust or a civil law "société".

The residency status shall remain valid as long as he holds the immovable property, either directly or indirectly, under the IRS. Until now, 14 IRS projects have been approved by the Board of Investment ("BOI") for the construction of some 3,000 villas.

One or two IRS projects have already been sold out, even before the beginning of construction! It is to be noted that for every villa sold under the IRS, approximately USD 6,700 will be contributed by the promoters for the development of the locality where the IRS project is located, making each IRS project a fuel for regional development.

The REIS allows the construction of residential immovable property to be sold to non-citizens. This scheme allows small planters owning agricultural land spreading over less than 10 hectares to diversify their activities and to also profit from the boom in the real estate development market by converting their land into REIS projects (also called "mini-IRS" projects).

The main differences here are that the non-citizen buying property under the REIS will only have to disburse USD 25,000 as registration duty upon acquisition (instead of USD 70,000 under the IRS), but will not however be allowed to apply for permanent residency status and no compulsory social contribution will be requested from the promoters per immovable sold.

The Business Facilitation Act 2006 allows any non-citizen being an investor, a self-employed, a professional or a retired person, without the need to have recourse to any IRS project, to be granted an occupation permit for a period of 3 years upon registration with the BOI, as per the following criteria:

After three years of occupation permit, the non-citizen investor, self-employed, professional or retiree will be granted the status of permanent resident after satisfying the following criteria:

Upon obtaining the permanent resident status, the beneficiaries will be eligible to buy immovable property in Mauritius, not only under the IRS or REIS but any villa, apartment, penthouse or commercial real estate of their liking in Mauritius.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.