Mauritius Dependent Permit: Bringing Your Spouse and Children
Spouse, children under 24, parents: who qualifies as a dependent in Mauritius, required documents, and how long the permit lasts.
A foreign national holding a Mauritian Occupation Permit or Residence Permit can bring a spouse, unmarried children under 24, and parents to live in Mauritius under a dependent permit. Each dependent permit costs 400 USD, on top of the 50 USD non-refundable application fee that has applied to every Occupation Permit and Residence Permit application since 1 December 2025. The dependent permit has no life of its own: it expires no later than the main holder’s own permit, and it does not allow its holder to work.
Who Counts as a Dependent
The Economic Development Board defines a dependent as a spouse, including an opposite-sex common-law partner, a parent, or an unmarried dependent child under 24, including stepchildren and legally adopted children. A married child, or one who has turned 24, falls outside the scheme regardless of the family’s actual situation.
A dependent permit carries no right to paid work. Once a family has settled in, enrolling children at school follows its own separate process, covered in our guide to schooling in Mauritius.
Which Permit of the Main Holder Opens the Door
A dependent application only makes sense once the main applicant already holds an Occupation Permit as investor, professional or self-employed, or a Residence Permit as a retired non-citizen. Choosing that main permit comes first: our article on which Mauritius residence permit to choose lays out the options, and the one on the Professional Occupation Permit sets out the salary threshold employers must meet. An employee who moves under that permit, or a retiree settling through a retirement residence permit, can each subsequently file for a spouse and children.
For an investor, one route into the Occupation Permit runs through buying in an eligible new-build development, which ties the dependent question directly to the family’s property project.
The Application File: Documents and Timing
Applications, including those for dependents, are submitted online through the EDB’s National E-licensing System. A dependent’s file typically includes, depending on the family link: an original birth certificate, a marriage certificate, divorce certificate or certificate of cohabitation as applicable, a medical certificate with test results less than six months old (a certificate from a local practitioner is enough for a child under 12), the passport biodata pages, a tourist visa valid at the time of application, four recent passport-size photographs in the exact 3.5 x 4.5 cm format, and, for an adopted child or stepchild, proof of adoption or a certified letter of consent from the biological parent. Any document not in English or French must come with a certified translation.
The file is assessed by a joint committee bringing together the EDB and the Passport and Immigration Office, chaired by the Prime Minister’s Office. Once approved, an Approval in Principle email opens a 90-day window for a first application, or 30 days for a renewal, to complete the remaining formalities before an appointment is scheduled to verify original documents and issue the permit.
What a Dependent Permit Costs
Each dependent’s file carries two separate charges: a 50 USD non-refundable application fee, in effect since 1 December 2025 for every Occupation Permit and Residence Permit application, and a 400 USD permit fee per dependent. Payment can be made by card on the online platform, at a point-of-sale terminal at the EDB office in Ebène, or by bank transfer to the Accountant-General’s USD account at the Bank of Mauritius.
A Duration Tied Entirely to the Main Holder
A dependent permit has no duration of its own: it expires no later than the main holder’s permit. Renewing the main permit therefore has to go hand in hand with renewing every dependent’s permit, on the same schedule. Our article on renewing a Mauritius residence permit sets out the timeline to plan for on the main holder’s side.
Dependents Are Not Allowed to Work
A dependent who wants to take up paid work in Mauritius cannot rely on their dependent status: they need to file their own application for a Work Permit or an Occupation Permit. Switching category this way requires a cancellation letter from the main holder of the permit the dependent previously depended on.
The Family Occupation Permit: A Different Route for the Wider Household
Alongside the standard dependent permit, the Economic Development Board also offers the Family Occupation Permit, set out under the Immigration Act 2022 and the Economic Development Board Act 2017. It lets the main applicant, a spouse, a dependent child, a parent, another dependent, or a person working exclusively for the household become a resident of Mauritius for 10 years, in exchange for a 250,000 USD contribution to the COVID-19 Projects Development Fund. Under this route, both the main applicant and the spouse are allowed to work or invest in Mauritius, which sets it apart from the standard dependent permit, where only the main holder can work.
Mistakes That Delay or Block a File
A tourist visa that has already expired at the time of filing is enough to stop a dependent application in its tracks: it needs to stay valid through the actual submission date. The main holder has to bring the original and a copy of every document for each dependent’s file to the appointment, not only their own. A birth, marriage or divorce certificate in a language other than English or French, submitted without a certified translation, consistently slows down processing. And missing the 90-day window (or 30 days for a renewal) granted after the Approval in Principle forces part of the process to start over.
Sources and Verification
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