Applying for Mauritian citizenship as a Commonwealth Citizen

Check out the Mauritius Guide found under Discover top left of this page.

Hello theghid,

Welcome on board!

Need to be confirmed but it seems that you need to be here without interruption atleast for the whole year preceding your application.

Give the Citizenship Department a call, they will gladly help you out : https://dha.govmu.org/Pages/Services/Citizenship.aspx

Regards,
Anou

I had the same questions about dual nationality for Commonwealth citizens. After doing some quick Googling it appears you can acquire your citizenship as a Commonwealth citizen after 5 years but unfortunately if you have no direct Mauritian lineage you will need to renounce your Commonwealth citizenship before commencing your Mauritian citizenship. It appears dual citizenship is only available to Mauritian born citizens.

Hello everyone,

I did some research and sorry for the information I posted above which is not correct. Though Mauritius allows dual citizenship, under certain status, it doesn't.

For Commonwealth citizens, it seems that you need to renounce your citizenship.

5. Registration of Commonwealth citizens
(1) Subject to this section, the Minister may cause any Commonwealth citizen, being a person of full age and capacity, to be registered as a citizen of Mauritius where he makes application in the prescribed manner and satis- fies the Minister that—

(a) he is of good character;

(b) he has an adequate knowledge of the English language, or any other language
current in Mauritius, and of the responsibilities of a citizen of Mauritius;

(c) he has resided in Mauritius for a continuous period of 5 years, or such shorter period (not being less than 12 months) as the Min- ister may in the special circumstances of any particular case ac- cept, immediately preceding the date of his application; and

(d) he intends, if registered, to continue to reside in Mauritius.

(2) A person to whom this section applies shall not be registered under this section unless he first renounces any other citizenship which he may possess.

(3) Notwithstanding subsection (1), the Minister may cause any Commonwealth citizen to be registered as a citizen of Mauritius if he is satisfied that it is in the public interest so to do.

In any case, please call the Citizenship department and here is the link to the full act :

Mauritius Citizenship Act

Regards,
Anou

That seems to indicate if you wish to apply as a commonwealth citizen you would need to renounce any non-commonwealth citizenships prior to application.

It would not make sense to renounce your citizenship prior to gaining Mauritian citizenship else you would become stateless.

I don't know there was possible to be a "citizen" of the commonwealth.
I thought a person was a citizen of a country.
And that country was a member of the Commonwealth.

So, are you saying that one, have to renounce their British Citizenship to become a Mauritius Citizen? That makes absolutely no sense.

Hello Vyas Chady,

No, it applies if one is registered as commonwealth citizen. Some people are registered under that status. Never heard of that before, but from the citizenship department of Mauritius, it seems that it does exist.

If you are a british citizen by birth and your nationality is British, you can hold both Mauritian and British citizenship

well heres the interesting  bit.
are you single or married???????

single ok you have to bee here 5 years with a nominal allowance for say going on holiday

if you are married heres the rub!!!!  your wife had to remain here for the 5 years as well no long breaks back to home to see family and friends
it doesn't say this anywhere on any forms BUT believe it we were caught out  because i have friends across many continents ad went away several times a year as a result we had to dealy ny husbands application until i had been here 5 years!!!!!

To everyone interested in dual nationality as a British citizen gaining Mauritian citizenship.

I've spoken directly with the Citizenship team and on both occasions they confirmed that they do support dual nationality and as a British National you can gain Mauritian citizenship through section 5 AND continue to hold your British nationality at the same time with no requirement to renounce your British nationality despite the ambiguous clauses in the citizen act.

Dear Sociarta

Kindly share website and contact details of Citizenship team. I have my own questions.

Thanks & Regards

Shammi
Sep28, 2021

Here's their email

[email protected]

And other details

Citizenship Section
Prime Minister's Office
Level 4, New Government Centre,
Port Louis
+230 201 3362, 201 1495, 201 2773, 201 2208

They reply within a few days.

Good luck