Mauritian citizenship and passport for foreign spouse

@Dorothydot

Hello Dorothy,

Welcome on board !

One of the requirements is that "the foreign spouse should have resided with their Mauritian spouse in Mauritius for an aggregate number of 4 years before applying for citizenship".

Source : https://dha.govmu.org/Pages/Services/Citizenship.aspx

You can come to Mauritius with your husband, apply for a residence permit and live here: https://passport.govmu.org/passport/?page_id=562

After 4 years of living together in Mauritius you may apply for citizenship.

You can not apply for a passport if you are not Mauritian.

Regards

Bhavna

@Dorothydot You need to apply for a spousal visa . You and your husband , who must already have a Mauritian passport , have to be together when you submit the required documents for spousal visa . Your marriage must be registered in Mauritius before you can apply for a spousal visa. That takes a couple of months.

Once that is granted , you need to live in Mauritius , under the same roof , as husband and wife for a period of at least 4 years . Every time you leave Mauritius , say for a 2 week holiday , that period is excluded from the 4 years .

Thereafter , you can apply for Mauritian citizenship which , I have heard , can take at least a year or more .

I was born in Mauritius. Left when I was 11 . Lived in South Africa for 54 years and returned , with my wife , to retire in  July 2023 . The above process is exactly what we followed .

Thank you very much for your information it was kind of you to take the time. We have been together for 21yrs, just not in Mauritius. Oh well we shall have to see whether we just come for holidays or whether we move there.  So many options but for now we have to remain in Europe to be near my father.

@Bhavna thank you for your reply it was very kind of you. For the time being we need to remain in Europe to look after my father. That gives us plenty of time to mull it over.

Hi Dorothy. I’m in a similar position, my wife is UK born but has full Mauritian citizenship through both her parents being Mauritian born and bred. I’m British and we both want to be able to retire to Mauritius eventually. As i understand it, I first have to apply for Mauritian Residency under the ’Spouse of Mauritian Citizen’ procedure, then if this is granted, we both can then live there for the 4 years as mentioned above, before I can apply for citizenship. We are going to Mauritius next month on holiday when i will be applying for Residency. Hope this helps.

@Bhavna

Just out of curiosity, has anyone ever been granted citizenship through this process ?

A lot of people I know who have followed this process are still waiting almost 8yrs after applying for citizenship after 15 to 20yrs of marriage and living under same roof here in Mauritius

@clintonjay

Hello, yes lots of members have obtained citizenship and some have been waiting for a little less that 2 years now. They have shared their experience on the french speaking forum : https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … 97#5915783

The thing is that obtaining citizenship is not automatic. They carry out a thorough investigation on each applicant and It also depends on the Prime Minister.

Regards

Bhavna

I know few Nigerians who applied since 2019 and they're still waiting.  Seems like certain nationalities are not being considered