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Good practice Imported

Mauritius Premium Visa

Mauritius · Port Louis · See the Mauritius profile · See the Port Louis profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 93% 43/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

A free, renewable long-stay visa for remote workers, retirees and investors launched in November 2020; officials reported roughly 2,000 approvals from 85+ countries by 2022, though no year-by-year data has been published since.

300–350
Applications (first two months) (Jan 2021)
45–50 countries
Countries represented (first two months) (Jan 2021)
~2,000
Approved applications (2022)
~3,000
Applications received (2022)
85+ countries
Countries represented (2022)

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Economic Development Board (EDB) Mauritius and Passport and Immigration Office
Period
2020–present
Keywords
Remote work, digital nomad visa, investment and retiree visa

Context

Mauritius's Premium Visa, announced in October 2020 and opened for online application on 16 November 2020, is administered jointly by the Economic Development Board (EDB) Mauritius and the Passport and Immigration Office. It targets remote workers, retirees and long-stay visitors: applicants show at least $1,500/month in income (more with dependants) or equivalent savings, earned outside Mauritius, and receive a free, renewable stay of six months to one year without entering the local labour market.

Activities

EDB reported 300–350 applications from around 45–50 countries within the portal's first two months (January 2021). Applicants apply online and must demonstrate income or savings earned outside Mauritius.

Results

By early-to-mid 2022, officials cited to press roughly 2,000 approved applications (of about 3,000 received) from more than 85 countries. These figures come from officials' statements to media rather than a published statistical bulletin, and no cumulative data for 2023 onward could be found.

Conclusions

The visa's zero cost and low income threshold make it one of the more accessible long-stay remote-work schemes evaluated here, and its multi-year continuity (unlike Bermuda's, which closed in 2025) suggests durability. However, the absence of routinely published uptake statistics or any independent study of its economic effect means its impact cannot currently be verified beyond officials' point-in-time public statements.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k)
Time to results
Short (< 1 year)
Staffing & skills
Economic Development Board (EDB) Mauritius staff, Passport and Immigration Office staff

Conditions for success

  • Zero visa fee widens the pool of eligible applicants
  • Simple eligibility test (income proof or equivalent savings) lowers the application barrier
  • Continuous operation since 2020 without interruption or announced end date

Common failure modes

  • No year-by-year statistics have been published since 2022, undermining transparency
  • Reported figures rely on point-in-time press statements rather than a systematic statistical bulletin

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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