In Mauritius, the idea of attracting foreign investors has long been associated to ‘selling the country’ to those capable of buying it. When the Business Facilitation Act was enacted in 2006, general perception assumed that the humble Rupee finally succumbed to the Dollar and Euro power. Once the government announced it possible for foreigners to acquire land in the country, an air of worry started blowing in our face. But we were wrong.
The laws that allow foreign people to settle in our small island should not be interpreted as ‘Invasion allowed’. There are many restrictions on non-Mauritians. It is important that one understands the fundamentals of such restrictions before taking any decisions. I’ve, many times, seen people selling their properties, landing with huge sum of money and then sweat their guts out because the project is legally not acceptable.
Property acquisition, for instance, is a very sensible issue. Land space is limited, you may rightly guess, in the country where 1.2 million inhabitants share 2040 m2 of land. The Non-Citizens (Property Restrictions) Act prevents acquisition of residential property by foreigners, except in certain circumstances. The luxury villa schemes (Integrated Resort Scheme and Real Estate Scheme) are accessible to non-Mauritians. They are pre-approved complexes regrouping several high-end villas into one compound. Getting your hands on one villa for a minimum purchase price of US$500,000 gives you a Permanent Resident status. Once you sell it, you lose the residency. It can also work the other way round: get a Permanent Resident status through your business or profession (3 years minimum stay in the country & rigorous conditions imposed) and then freely purchase a residential property with no strings attached.
If you do not fall in any of the cases mentioned above, you can only resort to rental solutions.
Business restrictions can take various forms. General commercial activities (import/export, wholesale, distribution, etc) are accessible to everybody – but they do not give you access to residence permit. Again, preserving part of the cake for locals seems to be the main reason behind such policy. Allowing any foreigner to open a grocery store, for example, would definitely kill the business of teeny-meenie-little-Mauritian-shopkeeper. Viewed from that angle, I would tend to agree. Still, I am of the opinion that each and every case should be assessed distinctively – we cannot just say ‘general commerce = no residency permit’.
Tourism is delicate business. Isn’t it fair to leave most of the benefits to Mauritians? The right policy would be, and is, to apply the right dosage between foreign and local-owned operators. Many of the locals do not possess the appropriate resources to sustain development and keep the pace with fast-developing destinations around the world. Without the intervention of foreign brain, our hotel industry would be a total fiasco. We learned from the great minds in the business – but since learning is an on-going process, we still need to keep those great minds at eye sight. Small businesses in the tourism industry are somewhat reserved for Mauritians. To start a tour operator business, a foreigner would be required to invest at least Rs5 million while no such restrictions apply to Mauritian. For Pleasure Craft (boats, catamarans, etc), the minimum investment is Rs10 million. The signal is clear: either you do it big, or you don’t do it at all.
Same policy applies to hotel operation. Foreigners are no longer able to operate guest houses or tourists residence – but are free to invest in hotels. A guest house can be a mere regrouping of apartments or bungalows for holiday rental. A hotel is a formal structure designed exclusively for holiday rental and able to provide ‘services’ to its residents. Basically, a hotel needs to have a minimum of 25 rooms, entertainment (swimming pool, disco, bar..), food (restaurant, breakfast..), housekeeping and similar services.
Above are examples where foreigners need to be cautious before venturing out. Conceiving a project is bringing a dream to near reality. It can all be shattered with a blunt ‘No’. I let you guess the impact on your environment: financial, emotional and social.
The nuances can be subtle and misunderstood, but when you fire a bullet - it's a bullet used. Now the question is : how much ammunition left? It’s always good to seek advice before venturing, and we are here for that!
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