Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam used a parliamentary answer on Tuesday to set out the operational rules of Mauritius’s forthcoming Golden Visa: a US$1 million investment commitment within twelve months of arrival, an estimated 100 recipients a year, and a five-working-day processing target. The program was approved by Cabinet on 10 April but has not yet begun issuing visas.
Answering a question from opposition MP Joanna Bérenger, Ramgoolam described the visa as “a multiple entry visa granted to successful applicants and the immediate dependents.” Successful applicants will receive a permit “valid for a period of up to two years,” renewable through a fresh application.
Investment commitment and target sectors
At the heart of the program is a written undertaking, given at application, to invest “a minimum amount of 1 million US dollars within the first 12 months.” Mauritius’s Economic Development Board (EDB), Ramgoolam said, “will be closely following up on the progress of their investment.”
Five sectors are eligible: fintech, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, renewable energy, and global treasury. The last of these signals Mauritius’s ambition to position itself as a treasury and family office hub.
A dedicated concierge service has already been set up at the EDB to support relocating businesses, “leveraging on our financial services sector, the free port sector and existing investment schemes,” the PM added.
Tax carve-outs that go beyond the headline rate
Visa holders crossing the 183-day threshold become tax-resident in Mauritius and thus liable to the standard flat 15% rate. Two carve-outs materially soften that exposure: Holders will be exempt from tax on “expenditure in Mauritius made through foreign credit or debit cards,” and on income remitted to a Mauritian bank account provided “the applicable tax has already been paid abroad.”
Both build on Mauritius’s existing remittance-influenced personal tax architecture, which already taxes foreign-source income only on receipt into a Mauritian account.
Labour market access does not, however, come bundled. “Holders of golden visas will not automatically be entitled to enter our labour market,” Ramgoolam said, “as they will be expected to invest in qualifying sectors.”
Real estate ringfenced to existing programs
Ramgoolam moved preemptively to defuse the housing-affordability concern that has dogged golden visa programs in Spain, Portugal, and Greece. Holders, he said, “will only be allowed to acquire residential properties strictly under the EDB property schemes,” specifying the Property Development Scheme (PDS), Invest Hotel Scheme (IHS), and Smart City Scheme.
Initial accommodation will be confined to hotels or rentals “under the EDB schemes,” with the PM arguing that “spare capacity in the high-end property rental market” can absorb new arrivals “without affecting housing affordability for Mauritian citizens.”
The constraint effectively channels Golden Visa holders into the same property classes that already underpin Mauritius’s US$375,000 Permanent Residency Permit, removing any new pressure on the open market.
Due diligence inside a five-day window
The five-day target imposes an unusually compressed timeline for a US$1 million-tier program. Ramgoolam described a two-stage check: An initial EDB screening “including different checks, the world check and so on,” followed by a Passport and Immigration Office review, with everything completed inside the working week.
On the broader integrity framework, the PM invoked external standards. All Mauritian visa schemes, he said, are “compliant with the standards of the Financial Action Task Force” and with OECD guidance “on potentially high-risk residency and citizenship by investment schemes.”
Inter-agency coordination will involve the Financial Crimes Commission, the Financial Intelligence Unit, the Financial Services Commission, the Bank of Mauritius, and the Passport and Immigration Office. Joint monitoring of outcomes sits with the PM’s office, the Ministry of Finance, and the EDB.
A Middle East-driven Cabinet decision
Cabinet approved the Golden Visa framework on 10 April 2026, two days after a Crisis Committee meeting Ramgoolam chaired on 8 April to formulate Mauritius’s response to the Middle East conflict.
That same package extended VAT exemptions to international sporting events and television award ceremonies, and granted accelerated clearance for free zone operators in the Middle East to set up in the Mauritius Freeport.
For Ramgoolam, the visa is one prong of a deliberate pivot to capture capital and operations displaced by regional instability. The program was set up, the PM has told lawmakers, after “multiple enquiries” from foreigners seeking to relocate with their families.
How it fits the existing pathway architecture
Mauritius already runs a layered set of investment migration products. The Permanent Residency Permit grants a 20-year renewable permit for US$375,000 in approved real estate, while the Occupation Permit for investors starts at US$50,000 in a Mauritius-based business with a ten-year term.
Introduced in 2020 via the same Cabinet-decision route now being used for the Golden Visa, the Premium Visa gives digital nomads up to a year on the island. Each of these existing products grants residence; the Golden Visa, by contrast, is a multiple-entry visa rather than a residence permit.
At two years renewable, it does not by itself unlock a path to citizenship, which under Mauritian law remains accessible only after seven years of continuous residence (five for Commonwealth nationals). Service providers are already pitching it as a stepping-stone, with holders able to convert to an Occupation Permit or a Retirement Residence Permit from within Mauritius.
Mauritius has flirted with the US$1 million price point before. In 2018, then-Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth announced in his budget speech that the EDB would manage a US$1 million citizenship by investment (CBI) program. That program never materialized.
Ramgoolam’s Golden Visa carries the same headline number but offers a different product: A renewable visa contingent on deployed investment rather than a non-refundable contribution.
What is still missing
Tuesday’s parliamentary statement is the most detailed public account of the rules to date, but the program is not yet operational. As of writing, the EDB has not published implementation regulations, an application form, or a fee schedule. No Government Notice has been gazetted.
Once gazetted, the visa can begin issuing without further parliamentary action. Both the Immigration Act 1970 and the EDB Act 2017 already give the executive authority to create new visa categories by Cabinet decision and ministerial regulation.
The 100-issuance figure Ramgoolam cited is, in his own words, an EDB estimate rather than a statutory cap.
Ramgoolam acknowledged additional integrity infrastructure he intends to roll out. A digital passport system, he said, is “available in many countries, including Seychelles today” but not yet in Mauritius. Mauritius’s planned criminal agency will, he said, “have a special section dedicated to justice” charged with vetting against connected persons attempting to slip through the net.
When the visa will actually start issuing, and under what published rules, remain open questions.
