Mauritius · Residency by investment
Residence Permit by Acquisition of Residential Property
This route is open at USD 375,000, but the economics changed sharply on 1 July 2026. Registration duty and land transfer tax on transfers of scheme property to non-citizens both doubled, from 5% to 10%, with no grandfathering for reservations signed earlier. Separately, the G+2 route on State Land and Pas Géométriques was closed to non-citizens as of 19 June 2026.
This is the simplest way into Mauritian residence. Buy a villa, get a permit, and there are no turnover tests and no physical presence requirement. But the 1 July 2026 doubling of transfer duty turned a 6% entry cost into a 12% one. With a further 10% land transfer tax on the way out, the round-trip friction now approaches 20%. That means a five-to-seven-year hold before the property route breaks even against renting.
Qualifying routes
This is the main scheme in use today. It replaced the IRS and RES for new developments.
The threshold was cut from USD 500,000 to align with PDS.
These are legacy schemes. Only resale stock is available, there are no new IRS/RES developments.
These are hotel-room units, and they have the weakest resale liquidity of the schemes.
The facts
- Minimum investment
- $375k
- Total landed cost
- The minimum purchase is USD 375k, plus roughly 11.5-12.5% in one-off costs at the new 10% duty rate. That includes registration duty of 10%, notary fees of around 1.15% including VAT, an EDB scheme processing fee of MUR 10,000-25,000, and a residence permit fee of about MUR 25,000. On a USD 500k villa, that works out to roughly USD 58-63k of friction on the way in.
- Route type
- Residency by investment
- Timeline
- 2–6 months (The permit follows the notarised deed. The property search and construction schedule are what really dominate the timeline.)
- Physical presence
- There is no physical presence requirement. The permit runs for as long as the property is owned. Sell the property, and the residence ends.
- Family
- Spouse or common-law partnerDependent childrenDependent parents
- Permanent residency
- The permit is open-ended while the property is held, but it is not a Permanent Residence Permit. A separate 20-year PRP application is required, and property ownership alone does not satisfy it.
- Citizenship
- Naturalisation is available after 7 years of residence, or after 2 years at ministerial discretion where at least USD 500,000 is invested. A USD 500k+ scheme property can qualify.
- Language test
- adequate knowledge of English or another language current in Mauritius
- Dual citizenship
- Not permitted. You would have to renounce.
- Requirements
- Purchase of at least USD 375,000 in an EDB-approved scheme.Funds transferred through the Mauritian banking system.Clean criminal record.Notarised deed of sale.EDB scheme approval.
- Registration duty and land transfer tax both double to 10% for transfers to non-citizens from 1 July 2026. The increase applies by deed date. A reservation signed in 2025 that completes after 1 July 2026 pays the new rate. There is no grandfathering.
- Round-trip transaction friction now runs to roughly 20% of value. Mauritian scheme property is not a liquid asset, and the resale market is thin. It is dominated by the same developers who are still selling new stock.
- The USD 375,000 route for acquisition outside EDB schemes has been eliminated. Non-citizens can now only buy through IRS/RES/PDS/SCS/IHS or qualifying G+2, and the G+2 State Land route closed to foreigners on 19 June 2026, with a 10% levy on vendors.
- Residence dies with the asset. Sell the villa, and the family loses status. This is a leasehold on your immigration position, not a permanent right.
- Buying does not confer the right to work. You still need an Occupation Permit to take employment or run a local trading business.
- USD 375k of Mauritian property is a concentrated, illiquid bet on a single asset in a single jurisdiction, a small island economy carrying 87.8% public debt to GDP.