Section 5:

5. Persons who are residents of Mauritius (1) Subject to section 6, any person, not being a citizen, shall have the status of a resident for the purposes of this Act where— (a) in the case of a Commonwealth citizen, he has, before 14 December 1968, been ordinarily resident in Mauritius continuously for a period of 7 years or more and since the completion of that period of residence has not been ordinarily resident continuously for a period of 7 years or more, in any other country; (b) in the case of an alien, he has, before 10 December 1966, been ordinarily resident in Mauritius continuously for a period of 7 years or more and has since the completion of that period of residence not been absent from Mauritius for a period of 3 years or more; (c) he is the spouse of a citizen; (d) he is a dependent child of a person to whom any of paragraphs (a) to (c) applies; (e) he is a person to whom permission has been granted by the Minister under subsection (2) to become a resident; or (f) he is a holder of a residence permit issued under section 9; I2 – 5 [Issue 7] Immigration Act (g) he is a person who holds an immovable property under the Property Development Scheme or Smart City Scheme, the purchase price of which is not less than 500,000 US dollars or its equivalent in any other hard convertible foreign currency; (h) he is an investor, a self-employed non-citizen, professional, noncitizen referred to in section 5A (5AA) or retired non-citizen; (ha) he is a non-citizen coming to serve in Government to service the public sector within the Service to Mauritius Programme for a period not exceeding 3 years and who is registered with the Board of Investment under the Investment Promotion Act; or (i) he is the spouse, dependent child or other dependant of a person to whom any of paragraphs (g), (h) and (ha) applies. (2) The Minister may grant permission to any person to become a resident if that person, not being a citizen— (a) is the parent or grandparent of a citizen residing in Mauritius and that citizen is willing and able to provide for his care and maintenance; (b) is a person who satisfies the Minister that his maintenance and that of his family will be provided wholly from funds outside Mauritius; or (c) is a person who, in the opinion of the Minister, is a fit and proper person to become a resident. (3) (a) Any person who, as at 14 May 2015, has the status of resident pursuant to the acquisition of immovable property from a company holding an IRS certificate or a RES certificate under the Investment Promotion Act or under paragraph (b), shall continue to have the status of resident so long as he holds the immovable property. (b) Notwithstanding the repeal of the provisions relating to the obtention of the status of resident by a person acquiring immovable property from a company holding an IRS certificate or a RES certificate, those provisions shall continue to apply, in relation to that person, his spouse, dependent child, or other dependent of the person, so long as the person holds the immovable property. [S. 5 amended by Act 5 of 1983; s. 13 (a) of Act 20 of 2002 w.e.f. 1 September 2002; s. 5 (b) of Act 21 of 2006 w.e.f. 1 October 2006; s. 16 (b) of Act 17 of 2007 w.e.f. 22 August 2007; s. 14 (a) of Act 18 of 2008 w.e.f. 19 July 2008; s. 7 (a) of Act 1 of 2009 w.e.f. 1 January 2009; s. 23 (b) of Act 9 of 2015 w.e.f. 14 May 2015.]