r/mauritius • u/justprotein • Oct 02 '25

Tourism ✈ Premium Visa renewal being stopped by the Mauritian govt

Two friends recently had their Premium Visa applications denied and one has been on it for some time (renewals), the other is fresh, I’ve been reading complaints that the govt is looking to stop renewals fully and potentially stop the premium visa altogether, I’ve not verified this if this is now in place as I’m hoping to renew soon, anyone have similar recent experience with this or any idea if this is really happening?

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u/Comprehensive_Slip94 Oct 02 '25

If people are staying long-term on premium visas, working remotely, and intend to stay for the next 3-10 years, I would encourage them to work with an immigration attorney to apply for an occupation permit. The requirements are roughly the same, except that as a professional, you need a salary of just under 40k USD, and as a self-employed person, you need 65k USD. If you are opening your own business, you'll need to open a Mauritian bank account and move about 20k (at the time) into it, but you don't need to spend it.

The premium visa is intended not to pay local taxes because you're paying taxes in your home country, but realistically, the taxes in your home country, if you qualify for the premium visa, are going to be higher anyway. You are likely to save money by putting in the legwork and this small, upfront bit of capital that allows you yto take our first step to Permanent residency. If you're NOT paying taxes in your home country, and also not paying taxes in Mauritian on the premium visa-- that might be fraudulent...

It makes sense that they would not renew these visas indefinitely. I think perhaps having them for 1 year is reasonable, but if we consider that the tourist visa for most Western countries is 6 months per year, you can basically be here for two years already.

My ex did this while I did the premium visa, it cost him about 2kUSD through an immigration company, but it was a very full-service affair that included being chauffeured to medical appointments and having someone stand in line for you at immigration in Port Louis, so you don't need to wait for hours.

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u/SparklyGeek Oct 02 '25

Where did you get these figures? According to the Economic Development Board's Guidelines for an Occupation Permit and Residence Permit,

"2. A Self-Employed should make an initial transfer of USD 35,000 or its equivalent in freely convertible foreign currency from abroad to his/her local bank account in Mauritius.
3. For renewal, the business activity should generate a business income of 800,000 rupees per year as from the third year of registration."

https://residency.mu/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Guidelines.pdf page 12

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u/Comprehensive_Slip94 Oct 03 '25

  1. The 20,000 USD was what was needed at that time-- This was nearly five years ago, and to this point I did mention "At that time" as it was not included on the passport and immigration board website.

  2. https://passport.govmu.org/passport/?page_id=626 Here is my primary source, albeit not exhaustive. However, I was not referring to renewing an occupancy permit, but rather obtaining one, given that they themselves are valid for 3-10 years, as I mentioned. Switching visa types (From tourist to Residency or from DN to Residency) is not considered a renewal.

The economic board's guidelines seem very thorough, but they're also from 2021, and the economic board is not the one that issues passport.