Move to Mauritius

Hi and welcome to Expat.com CS36!

I created a new thread on the Mauritius forum to give you a better visibility. This should increase your chances of obtaining advices/ reactions though i would suggest you to take some time going through the various threads of the Mauritian forum as these questions have been discussed before.

Best of luck
Armand

Many thanks Armand.

Hi CS,

welcome to the blog and am glad you are considering moving to mauritius. I will try to answer the questions I can help with. The question to do with kids and creches will probably be answered by a parent expat with more expertise on the topic

CS36 wrote:

Dear friends,

I am looking into relocating to Mauritius in few months time (i.e. waiting for final offer from my company) but before I make any decision, I would like to gather some information from you and thus would appreciate your help here.

- what would you class as a decent salary there (would you consider a salary of around US$8750/pm a good one for a family of 5 i.e. would there be any possibility to save anything at the end of the day after paying for all the expenses(i.e.house, utility bills, childcare or Nanny etc)? I believe my company would pay for the private health insurance and also my daughters international school fees.



The salary which translates to about 250,000 MUR monthly, is a very good salary, especially if your Health insurance and school fees are taken care of. Housing, Living, travel, going etc., should be covered by Rs.100,000 very very comfortably ( here I am assuming rental of 40k to 50k MUR in a very good area for a big house)


-Are there any other salary deductions apart from income tax
(I believe the current income tax rate is 15%)?

From what I know, there is nothing significant in way of tax,expect a cess for education or something for your annual salary over 2 million Rupees.

- How much does a childcare or nanny costs per month, can anyone please forward any links to the creche or nursery

- Could anybody please suggest a good residential area in Mauritius where I can find family atmosphere

Choose the area depending on where you are going to be working. If you are going to be working in Ebene or Port loius, the best areas would be Floreal, Curepipe near the centre ( 12km from ebene and 25 km to Port Loius). Then you have Moka closer to Port Loius ( 7 to 10 km from Port Loius and 3 to5 from ebene)). Tamarin and Flic and Flac on the West(25 km from Port loius and 15 from Ebene) and then you have Sodnac in Quatre Bornes (5 km from ebene).

- I understand that cars are quite expensive in Mauritius, how much would it cost in local currency for a family car i.e. 5 doors 1.6Lt and some known brands (not expensive ones)

You can search for cars on www.mauricemotors.com and www.lexpress.com (in the classified section). this should give you a better feel of the prices. Though i would say if you go in for a good second hand car, 2 to 5 yrs old, this should cost you upwards of 500,000 to 700,000 MUR. You could get some for less than 400,000, but the nthey will be older.
You get all the major Japanese and european makes of Cars here.

- Any suggestion on good international english schools and how does intake system work there i.e.can kids join anytime during the year

-  Any suggestions on local estate agents

For local estate agents, i will DM you a couple of guys  iknow. You can also check out www.lexpressproperty.com. Its the most looked at website.

Also, my wife is an IT (JAVA/J2EE)programmer by profession, how is the IT market in Mauritius and any good IT job sites?

There is a decent IT market, and a couple of jobsites, www.myjobs.mu. But you are most likely to find something after research and through contacts. The best thing would be to ask the ppl at work whom u r in contact with, and also use the classified section, on the left hand side, of the blog.

Many thanks,
CS

couple of links to the cost of living discussions in the forum https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=82846

in the below link, you can go through to get a clear idea of costs, and with different scenarios.

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=5090



Hope this was of help!

Cheers,
Musheer

Dear Musheer,

many thanks for such a comprehensive feedback, much appreciated. I have to say I am quite new to this forum (and infact this the first one of which I am an member)but forums like these are very helpful particularly to new comers in providing all the information. I hope to see you guys sometime in the near future.
Have a good day.

Cheers, CS

hi CS36,

contributing a small part to musheer's long article, i would add up a little more spice:
> count around Rs10-15k for running up of vehicle
> Le bocage international school(moka) english private school
> smae amount, ie around Rs 5,000-10,000+ for creche, depending upon quality. i do not know if le bocage has nursery, although the french school nearby, has such.

moka's also a nice place to live, you can have a house at around Rs 30k

and there's an email address, of mr andrews, which is Bocage headteacher

cheers,
Islander.

Thanks Islander for this additional information.

Dear All,

One quick question- As my wife would also be relocating with me to Mauritius, I just want to check how much salary can she expect with 8 years of exp in IT mainly in Java and J2EE, even an estimate would be very helpful.

Thanks, CS

it varies on the needs(company recruiting), u can have 20-50k, they might need a small developper(20k) or a professional developer in j(in that way 50+).

apply for some: myjob dot mu

have a nice d
cheers
I-

Hi CS,

Alexandra House School in Floreal is an International English school, http://www.alexandrahouseschool.com/

I think Musheer has covered all the other questions...

Good luck

Mariam

Thanks Mariam/Islander77 for your feedback, very useful.