Retiring in Mauritius

Dear Priscilla

I'm currently on a work assignment in Mauritius so unfortunately I don't have much information on retirement specifics. Hopefully some other person would be able to give you some information.

Good luck

B

I love Mauritius and love Mauritians , will retire only in Mauritius. Why not get a taste of Paradise as long as we are living. Some of us might go to hell and miss the opportunity ...

Terence,

I love your reply and way of thinking and feel the same thing.  Life is too short!

Jackie

Hi there, we are going thru the process of looking very closely at Mauritius for our retirement. We are living in durban south Africa and trying to sell our businesses. Why Mauritius? The 1st thing that strikes us the peaceful people. There is great bitterness and hatred and violence in sa. There is no BEE in Mauritius. It's the peace and calm and relaxed friendly atmosphere that appeals to us. We realise it is more expensive than other places Panama, Costa Rica, Ecuador where we have also looked at our options. 2 of Sons live in sa and 1 in Qatar. Mauritius is half way between both places. Forgive memail for rambling on. ....

We were very committed to retire in Mauritius for all the reasons mentioned by Kenivan.  Then I was diagnosed with cancer.  Still on chemo treatment.  Now I cannot get any medical insurance/medical aid in Mauritius.  All our plans out the window.

My situation is a little different, as I am now in Mauritius, from UK, for the foreseeable future owing to both parents needing my presence here to look after them rather than it being a planned location retirement choice for me. (They, my Mauritian parents, returned years ago while I remained UK where born , raised worked etc). However There are some expats (unconnected with this forum) who I've met through a Watersports group that I frequent here. One friend from that group, Steve, is a Frenchman with his family who's lived several places in Europe but he explained me his love of Mauritius owing to climate, the life he and his family now have and highlighted the tax benefit (compared to when he was in Switzerland in particular and other places) he said  it was much more reasonable here.
He loves it here and seems his family do too all having lived here 5 years now and set up their networking and working business life, kids schooling etc. Steve says he knew this was the place for him when he first visited.
As for me I miss England (best friends and the things there that I'm familiar with), but Mauritius is really not a bad place at all. As long as it doesn't head into an economic decline (and that's not the case) it really is a vibrant developing place with a lot more positive surprises than I expected compared to former years coming here on short holidays to visit family.
Healthcare is something to be very alert to, it can be either good, OK or bad. On the whole Private healthcare here tends to be 'regarded' as better but this isn't always guaranteed.
(btw: sad to read JohanZandbergs thwarted plans, above, precisely due to lack of medical insurance but that points out a relevant consideration for potential retirees)
Pensions (according to my parent ones) seems fairly easy to get transferred over here from abroad into their banks but you need to look into how you will process that for your own circumstances and the country you're migrating from.
It's a lovely island to consider retiring to but  your pragmatic requirements are really items you cannot afford not to properly research.

Please go the website called Numbeo and compare the prices and costs of different places. It is quite helpful. Thanks

Really appreciate all the advice and contributions here. We have booked to travel to Mauritius mid October. Hope to try and set up a bank account and meet with someone who can give advice on tax, specifically regarding tax treaties between SA/Mauritius. There is only so much research that you can do on the Internet. At some point......you just have to go with it and make the commitment and start. Yes we are going to make some mistakes along the way. We look forward to being in magical peaceful Mauritius for a while.

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Has anyone from South Africa retired in Mauritius? Is there "cabin fever" living on island.