Mauritian Diaspora Scheme: Property Purchase Benefits When You Return to Mauritius
The Mauritian Diaspora Scheme waives registration duty on a first PDS or Smart City home purchase for Mauritian diaspora members returning to work or invest in Mauritius.
The Mauritian Diaspora Scheme waives registration duty on the first home a certified diaspora member buys under the Property Development Scheme (PDS) or the Smart City Scheme — a straight 5% saved at the current rate. That exemption is only one benefit among several, and it is not available for the asking: applicants must first be certified by the Economic Development Board (EDB) as a member of the Mauritian diaspora returning to work, run a business, or invest in Mauritius.
Who counts as a member of the Mauritian diaspora
The Economic Development Board (Mauritian Diaspora Scheme) Regulations 2023 set a precise definition. A member is a citizen of Mauritius who holds a valid Mauritian passport, or the child or grandchild of that citizen — whether or not the child or grandchild holds a Mauritian passport themselves. Excluded are Mauritian citizens registered under sections 5, 7 or 9 of the Mauritius Citizenship Act, meaning those who acquired citizenship by naturalisation or registration rather than by descent.
A grandchild without a Mauritian passport can still qualify as a diaspora member, but is then treated as a non-citizen for the purposes of the permanent residence permit attached to the certificate.
Three categories, three sets of conditions
The certificate is not issued for the sole purpose of buying a home. Applicants must fit one of three categories set out in the regulations, each requiring an actual return to Mauritius to work, run a business, or invest.
| Category | Age / qualification | Prior work experience abroad | Condition in Mauritius |
|---|---|---|---|
| Professional | Postgraduate degree or equivalent, or full membership of a reputed professional body | At least 5 years’ continuous full-time work experience | Signed employment contract, basic monthly salary of at least Rs 100,000 |
| Young professional | Under 30 at the time of application, bachelor’s degree or equivalent obtained outside Mauritius | At least 3 years’ continuous full-time work experience, post-qualification | Signed employment contract in a qualifying field of activity |
| Self-employed | Individual or one-person company | At least 5 years’ continuous full-time work experience | Initial investment of at least Rs 250,000; annual business income of at least Rs 1 million for the first 3 years |
In every category, no more than a year may pass between the end of the work experience abroad and the actual start of the activity in Mauritius. The field of activity must also appear on the regulations’ list of qualifying activities — finance, technology, engineering, tourism, ocean economy, healthcare, biotechnology, renewable energy and construction, among others.
Registration duty waived on a first PDS or Smart City purchase
This is the scheme’s central property benefit: a certificate holder pays no registration duty under the Registration Duty Act on the deed transferring a residential property acquired under the Property Development Scheme or the Smart City Scheme. The exemption applies only to a first purchase under either scheme, and can only be claimed once.
The standard registration duty rate in Mauritius remains 5% of the property price. On a Rs 20 million PDS villa, the exemption is worth Rs 1 million. It does not cover notary fees (roughly 1.15% of the price) or the non-refundable Rs 25,000 EDB processing fee, both of which remain payable regardless — detailed in our article on the real cost of buying property in Mauritius.
The exemption does not extend to a purchase under the older IRS or RES schemes, or to an ordinary property outside PDS/Smart City. See our overview of buying an IRS, RES or PDS property on resale and our guide to the Smart City Scheme and its 18 approved projects.
The certificate’s other benefits
The property exemption is one part of a wider package, each strand claimable only once:
- an income tax exemption on worldwide income for 10 succeeding income years from the year of return, for a professional or self-employed member; 5 succeeding income years for a young professional — the exemption on Mauritius-source income stays limited to the activity named on the certificate;
- an excise duty exemption, up to Rs 2 million, on a motor car cleared from bond or imported within 180 days of the certificate’s issue, provided the returning citizen concession under the Excise Act has not already been used;
- a customs duty and VAT exemption on personal and household effects bought abroad, not for resale, and imported within 180 days of the return to Mauritius.
Every certificate holder must also file a yearly statement of income earned in and outside Mauritius with the Director-General of the Mauritius Revenue Authority, by 30 September following the income year concerned.
A residence permit for non-citizen family members
Where the certificate holder is not a Mauritian citizen — a grandchild without a Mauritian passport, for instance — they, their spouse and their dependent children may apply for a permanent residence permit through the Prime Minister’s Office. If unmarried, up to three wholly dependent next of kin may qualify instead. This route is separate from the one tied to a USD 375,000 property purchase, covered in our article on the Golden Visa and the residence permit by purchase, and from the process for a spouse of a standard permit holder, covered in our dependent permit guide.
How and when to apply
Applications go through the online portal diaspora.mu, with no application fee. They can be filed any time before returning to Mauritius, or no later than 180 days after starting a first job or registering a first business in Mauritius — after that window, no application will be entertained. The EDB aims to process a complete application within 30 days. Once approval in principle is granted, applicants have 6 months to present original documents and collect the certificate.
What can cost you the benefits
A certificate can be revoked if the holder ceases to be resident in Mauritius for an aggregate of 183 days in an income year, becomes unemployed or stops the certified activity for a continuous period of one year, or fails to respond to the EDB’s requests for information. If revocation happens within 4 years of the exemptions being granted, the holder must repay, on a pro-rata basis, the customs, excise and registration duty benefits received.
The scheme is under review
Mauritius’s 2025-2026 Budget noted that the Mauritian Diaspora Scheme, launched in 2015 and revised in 2023, was not attracting as many applicants as hoped, and announced a shake-up. The 2026-2027 Budget confirms the creation of a National E-Diaspora Platform to mobilise diaspora expertise, but no official text has yet amended the rules described here: the Economic Development Board (Mauritian Diaspora Scheme) Regulations 2023 and the EDB’s August 2024 guidelines, still published online at the time of writing, remain the rules in force. Before filing an application, it is worth confirming with the EDB that these terms have not changed since.
Sources and verification
- Economic Development Board (Mauritian Diaspora Scheme) Regulations 2023, Government Notice No. 35 of 2023 — Government Gazette of Mauritius
- Mauritian Diaspora Scheme Guidelines, August 2024 — Economic Development Board
- Mauritian Diaspora Scheme — Economic Development Board information page
- Annex to the 2025-2026 Budget Speech — Economic Development Board
- Budget Highlights 2026-2027 — Economic Development Board
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