Shipping Household items To Mauritius

What a shame you didn't get any replies! There must be loads of info out there. We're planning our move for next year and could do with same sort of advice. Think we will be bringin our car as well as household and persoanl items.

Any advice would really be appreciated.  Thanks

Donna

I couldn't even get a reply from the entity that permits animals to be shipped and the quarantine length. i am a little discouraged at this point and may look to Costa Rica instead, although I would much rather live in Mauritius.

I moved my household goods to Mauritius about a year ago and didn't pay any duties to bring them in the country.  In fact, I was living in Mauritius for a year before I had my items shipped to be sure I was going to stay here and also to see what I would need and what I could get rid of before shipping.

From what I remember, you are allowed to bring in almost anything reasonable as part of your household goods with no duties being attached.  You will need to check what duties may be applied to any alcohol or motor vehicles you may try to import as I did not bring any items of that nature.  I do know that there will potentially be duties attached to bringing in those type of items.

Depending on where you are moving from, you can also look to buy new items in your country of origin and claim back the VAT/GST there when you take them out of the country.  This is what I did as I was previously living in the UK.  I was able to buy new appliances (washing machine, microwave, etc) and various electronics (TV, DVD player, etc) at better prices and better quality than what I found in Mauritius and get a VAT refund from the UK.

Once all of your household items have been brought in to Mauritius, the customs department will require that you file a report with them annually for the first two years to certify that you have not sold any of your items and may even do random spot checks to make sure of it as well.  If you do sell any items or get rid of any items you brought in and the customs department discovers this, you may be liable to pay customs duties plus VAT and a 10% penalty as well.

Here are the contact details for the customs department who would be able to answer any specific questions you may have:

Telephone - 206 3400
Fax - 240 1032 and 240 0434
Email - customs@mra.mu

I would highly recommend that you come to Mauritius first and see where you will live and the size of your accommodation and what items you will need.  Then try to completely fill up whatever container size you ship your items in as it will not make any difference in the cost of shipping your household goods.  This way you can be sure that you have everything you need and if you need to purchase anything such as appliances or electronics, you will more than likely find a larger selection of better quality items to choose from at lower prices in your country of origin.

Regarding bringing pets in to the country, cats and dogs have a minimum quarantine of 30 days if brought from the US, UK and Australia according to my friends that have brought their pets from those countries.  In some cases you can get them out a bit early as one of my friends had their cat and dog from Australia released in 25 days. I believe that if the pets are coming from South Africa though, the length of quarantine is 90 days, but I'm not 100% sure.

Thank you for the valuable information! I really appreciate your details... I live in Florida so my two indoor cats go where I go and i understand the reason for quarantine.
BB

Thanks for all the information, My husband will probably come over first so will be able to decide what we need to take and what we can buy when we get ovethere. We were thinking of taking our car as it seems to be cheaper to ship it over than to buy one overthere. Apparently we can put it in the container as well so I can stuff it full of stuff!

Go to Costa Rica. I'm leaving Mauritius. I shipped 2 20 foot containers to Mauritius. First, check on the government website for the the Custom/Duty restriction articles. It will tell you what you can import and what you need an import for. I had 20 items in my container which required import permits. 5000rs fine for each violation. I have a great shipping company ran by a Christian guy. You can contact PAWS organization which they can help you with the importing of permits. My friends have all shipped pets to Mauritius. They do have to go through a quarantine periods 2 to 4 weeks.  Hope this helps.

Regarding importing cars, it may not be worth your while as they carry a 100% import duty (current retail value of vehicle plus shipping cost + 100%). Furthermore, cars may not be older than 4 years in order to qualify for importing.  If you still wish to bring your car over, ensure that there is a dealership here that can service your car and provide spare parts.  Cars are expensive here, but you can see by the above calculation why! Reconditioned cars are widely sold here.

WOW! Really useful information. Thanks very much, will definately think about it know. Donna

We shipped all our stuff from SA, with no duty. We are in the process of moving our dogs here too. We had no customs hassles. We were told of some items not allowed. Off the top of my head I remember - No carpets, No cars, No bicycles, No alcohol, No weapons. If you don't have these things, then no duties.

As far as regards pet importation, I'd recommend to read what Donna has posted in msg #20 in this discussion. Am trying to find more information and will keep you posted if any more info arises.
Cheers
Arlette

Hi,

Here's a link to the mra (Mauritius Revenue Authority) guideline with regards to the import of personal effects by returning citizens or permanent residents.

http://www.gov.mu/portal/sites/mra/retrnalow.htm

As for the motor vehicles, only returning citizens appear to be concerned by the exemption. And also, bear in mind that only right hand drive vehicles may be imported !