Move to Mauritius: Your Step-by-Step Timeline

Moving to Mauritius works best when you treat it as a sequence, not a single leap. The dependencies matter: your residence permit usually needs to be issued before you can open a local bank account, your police certificate has a shelf life, and pet import runs on its own fixed clock. As a rough guide, allow six to nine months from first research to touchdown for a permit-based move, with the permit application itself often the longest single step. This article maps the order to do things in and the lead times to plan around, so nothing blocks something else at the wrong moment.

What is the right order to plan a move to Mauritius?

The single most useful thing you can do early is get the sequence right. Many tasks can run in parallel, but a few are strictly gated: you generally need an approved residence route before a resident bank account, and you need certain documents (police certificate, medical certificate) dated recently enough to still be valid when your application is assessed.

A sensible high-level order:

1. Decide your route (work, investment, retirement, remote work or property). This determines every document you gather.
2. Gather and legalise core documents (passports, birth and marriage certificates, qualifications).
3. Request police certificates once you are within their validity window.
4. Submit your permit or visa application to the Economic Development Board (EDB).
5. On approval, travel, activate the permit locally, then open a bank account and sort local admin.
6. Ship belongings and import pets on their own timelines, aligned to your arrival date.

The rest of this guide puts real lead times against each phase.

How far ahead should you start (6 to 9 months out)?

Start with the decision that drives everything else: your residence route. The main routes are the Occupation Permit (for investors and professionals), the Premium Visa (one year, renewable, for remote workers and long-stay visitors earning from abroad), the retired residence permit (for applicants aged 50 and over transferring a qualifying monthly sum), and residence through approved property from USD 375,000 under a PDS or Smart City scheme. Each has different paperwork, so choosing first saves you gathering the wrong things.

In this window, also begin collecting documents that are slow to obtain: certified copies of birth, marriage and qualification certificates, and any apostille or legalisation they need. These can take weeks depending on your home country, so they belong at the front of the queue, not the end.

Last reviewed: September 2026. Confirm current permit criteria and any qualifying amounts directly with the Economic Development Board (edbmauritius.org) before you rely on them.

When should you order police certificates?

Police or criminal record certificates are a common bottleneck because they cut both ways: they can take weeks to issue, yet they are only accepted if recently dated. Order them once you are roughly within three months of submitting your application, so they are fresh on arrival at the EDB but not so early they expire. If you have lived in more than one country, you may need a certificate from each, and those run on different national timescales, so start the slowest one first.

What happens in the permit application phase (3 to 6 months out)?

This is the core phase. With documents in hand, you submit your application to the EDB. The Occupation Permit is valid for 10 years and renewable, which is why the assessment is thorough. Two points on the money side, kept deliberately brief because this is a sequencing guide rather than a tax guide:

• The Occupation Permit (Investor) requires a minimum initial investment of USD 100,000.
• The Occupation Permit (Professional) requires a minimum monthly salary of MUR 50,000, harmonised across all sectors.

Mauritius is an attractive base partly because personal income tax is modest and there is no capital gains tax and no inheritance or estate tax. Personal income tax is progressive, not a single flat rate: 0% on the first MUR 500,000, 10% from MUR 500,001 to 1,000,000, 20% from MUR 1,000,001 to 12,000,000, and 35% above MUR 12,000,000 (income year from 1 July 2026). For the full picture see our dedicated tax guide.

Last reviewed: September 2026. Always confirm current tax bands with the Mauritius Revenue Authority (mra.mu) and permit figures with the EDB, as thresholds are reviewed periodically.

While the application is in progress, keep other slow tracks moving in parallel: begin your pet import preparation and get quotes for shipping, but do not book anything irreversible until approval is confirmed.

How does pet import timing work?

Bringing a cat or dog is one of the least flexible timelines in the whole move, so it deserves its own planning track. Import runs on a fixed veterinary schedule: microchipping, specific vaccinations, and in many cases a blood test with a mandatory waiting period afterwards, followed by an import permit and a health certificate issued close to travel. Because of the waiting period built into the process, pet preparation can take several months and cannot be rushed at the end. Start it as soon as your route looks settled, and confirm the exact current requirements with the National Parks and Conservation Service or your official veterinary authority before booking flights. Airline-approved crates and an approved routing add further constraints, so book the animal's travel early.

What do you do in the final month before departure?

With your permit approved, the final month is about logistics and timing:

• Confirm flights and align your shipment so belongings do not arrive before you can clear them.
• Finalise pet travel documents within their short validity window.
• Arrange short-term accommodation for your first weeks so you have an address for admin (see our dedicated housing guide rather than trying to buy or lease long-term from abroad).
• Keep original documents and permit approval letters in your hand luggage, not the container.

What admin comes first after you arrive?

Arrival admin follows its own order because several tasks depend on each other. A practical sequence:

1. Complete any in-country permit activation or biometrics the EDB requires.
2. Open a local bank account. This typically needs your issued permit plus proof of address, which is why it comes after arrival, not before.
3. Register for local services and obtain a local mobile number, which makes every other sign-up easier.
4. Sort schooling, healthcare registration and vehicle needs as separate workstreams (each has its own dedicated guide).

Getting the banking step in the right place matters most: trying to open an account before your permit is issued usually stalls, so plan for it to happen in your first week or two on the island rather than remotely in advance.

Bringing it together

The move to Mauritius is very manageable when you respect the dependencies: choose your route first, front-load the slow documents, time police certificates so they stay valid, run pet import as its own long track, and leave banking until your permit is in hand. Get the order right and each step clears the way for the next.

Explore the Mauritius Relo guides and tools to map your own timeline, compare residence routes and build a document checklist tailored to your route.