Starting your Business and life in Mauritius

Hi,

1) In Mauritius, as a foreigner, you can only buy apartments or properties in IRS/RES schemes with prices starting at around $500,000 or higher depending on the project.
Rent varies depending on the type of property and location.
http://www.investmauritius.com/media/25 … hasers.pdf

2) Grand Bay is a tourist area with lots of people especially expats around. It will depend on your type of business. GB might be good for some activities but not so much for other ventures.

3) Import taxes for motor vehicles are very high. You can be slapped with a 100% import duty. It's recommended you get one here.
In regard to this question and #5 about duties on household stuff, better contact the revenue authority directly.
http://mra.mu/index.php/contact-us

4) Bringing pets to Mauritius
http://agriculture.govmu.org/English/Do … 20-DVS.pdf

6) I don't have anyone in mind but I guess between SA and Mauritius, there are lots of people officiating in the moving process.
However, note that the official agency relating to permits is the Board of Investment.

7) See my first comment about buying properties. Regarding payment modalities, you find get more information from the property developers or realty agents.

8) For a family of 4: Rent + utilities (water, gas, electricity, internet and satellite TV) + healthcare + petrol + upkeep + leisure...I would put the living cost at min. MUR 60,000

Hope this helps.

Hi Winston

Great this helps me allot. Thanks for the info.

Marc

Hello Marc great to hear your exciting plans,Winston has done a great job covering the essential points,this is a really good place to do business.When you register your business you have to do it through a management company,there a lot on the island.I have some really good contacts for this that will help you at a good price,hope this helps.

what business you to do ?

Hi I am Mr. Amar from Hyderabad India. I am interested in starting Indian food outlet or food truck business in Mauritius. I am having good chef's in India,how to apply work permits?

Contact me by email *** I'll first gather all info n then revert back to you

Hi thanks for your mail.where u from and what r ur interest in business. Bye Amar

Hi guys, did you experience the same that everything here takes longtime to process?? I mean opening banks accounts takes forever, immigration , setting a company etc ?

Lizphilipm wrote:

Hi guys, did you experience the same that everything here takes longtime to process?? I mean opening banks accounts takes forever, immigration , setting a company etc ?

For a local, opening a bank account takes 1 hour in some banks and setting up a company takes a few days.

When it comes to expats, formalities takes longer because there are vetting procedures by several agencies and sometimes some paperwork requires approval by the Prime Minister's Office before things can go forward.

It's enervating for sure but sometimes necessary.

2months been waiting for my bank accounts , today I got reply that agent I applied with left the bank so transferring my request to another agent. I have never se anything like this before.

Lizphilipm wrote:

2months been waiting for my bank accounts , today I got reply that agent I applied with left the bank so transferring my request to another agent. I have never se anything like this before.

2 months is a bit too much if you submitted all the required documents...I suggest you file a complaint in this case...

Thanks, it's really annoying.

Setting up a domestic company takes a couple of days. And it can be done online.

Opening a bank account requires the bank to do some vetting (KYC). But that should not take 2 months. As far as I'm aware, this is not the general experience.

I agree that banks take that long, more often than people would think.
While opening bank accounts for our foreign clients, we experience ridiculous delays most of the time. So annoying that almost each time we need to push higher and get the work done.

The excuse of KYC and Due Diligence is a flag that some wave just to hide their lethargy

well replied.  Bravo

I used to work for a bank in the UK and I can understand the frustration of it taking a long time to get an account opened.  I was not working in compliance but in Information Technology but however i knew what each depart did and what paperwork and checking is done. 
[1] when you submit say utility bills etc. to prove the credit worthiness the bank may contact the companies to see if you have had bad debts with them in the past.
[2] a number of countries operate a credit rating system and they score you on past performance in terms of what credit has been given before and how you have serviced your loans etc . Have you paid up on time , have you been taken to court for non-payment.
[3] International checks , yes everyone will or should be checked to see if they are on either a country blacklist or a name blacklist. This can take time if your name is very similar to an actual name on the blacklist as they may need to check further.
[4] Don't forget if you are coming into Mauritius then a lot of these checks have to be made by the bank back to your own country and as such it can take time to send the information request and get the right information back.  This can mean several attempts because the form of the reply is not acceptable to Mauritius Government or the Bank and so the Bank has to try again.

KYC , Due Diligence is a very important topic and Banks have to take this seriously these days as a bad decision could not only damage the reputation of the customer but also the bank and ultimately the country in terms of credit status.  You will often hear on the news about a countries rating being downgraded by Standard and Poor or Moodys.

When a bank can open an account for you in one hour it can mean one of three things.

{a} They have the back office resources and direct access to credit reference and checking systems and as such you don't have to wait long.
{b} They take the risk partly at the start so as to retain a new customer but in the back office the checks are still made and the bank can close the account etc after the checking has been done
{c} The bank take the risk and forego some of the checking process maybe they take the view that if you say had a recent loan with another bank then that bank must have done the checking anyway .   It is wrong if they don't pay full attention to KYC and ultimately the Bank of Mauritius and regulatory authorities will spot this and will turn up one day at  the bank and make a complete audit of the systems in place.