Saturday, August 19, 2006
Purchase a luxury villa & become Mauritius resident
NEW DELHI: Dreaming of owning a seaside villa in an idyllic island? The Mauritius government’s new Integrated Resort Scheme (IRS) could help turn that into reality. And as a bonus, you and your family would also acquire ‘resident status’ in Mauritius as long as you hold the property.
IRS is a project for construction and sale of luxury villas to foreigners near the coastal region of Mauritius. The acquisition of a villa for residential purposes only, under the scheme, will allow the foreigner and their family to reside in Mauritius as long as they hold the property.
The residence permit granted under the IRS to an investor, his or her spouse and dependants, remains in force until the non-citizen holds immovable property in Mauritius under the scheme. Applications for residence permit have to be made at the time of applying for IRS.
“The property market is now becoming a very important part of the investment arena, be it for a private individual or a fund manager managing a global diversified fund. With the recent introduction of the IRS, Mauritius has opened its doors to property investors from all over the world.
Being a small island means there can never be an oversupply of property, hence the great investment value,” says Mayank B Patel, chairman & CEO of Currencies Direct, a London-headquartered non-bank provider of international payments, treasury services and commercial forex, which has just set up an office in Mauritius. Mr Patel, who spoke to ET from London, feels that with the Indian community turning very investment savvy, IRS is likely to be a big hit in India.
Under IRS, a minimum investment of $500,000 is required for the luxury villas, which are sold as part of a complex with international standard facilities such as golf course, marina and individual swimming pool, nautical and other sport facilities, health centre and catering.
Maintenance, waste disposal, gardening, security and other household services are also included. Out of $500,000, an amount of $70,000 goes towards payment of land registration duty to the Mauritius government. The area of land with each villa cannot exceed 1.25 arpents (0.5276 hectares).
Feels Anuj Puri, MD, Trammell Crow Meghraj: “This is an astute move by Mauritius to bring in valuable forex. Mauritius has always been a popular destination for Indians. However, it is unlikely that many Indians will buy such properties there for year-round residential purposes.
A more likely scenario is that properties will be bought and let out for extensive periods, to be used by the owners only on a vacation basis.
Since Mauritius is a favoured tourist destination, this presents a win-win situation for both the Indian investor and the Mauritian government, considering that Mauritius serves as an international business hub.”
Besides non-citizens of Mauritius, foreign companies, local companies and local citizens can also avail of the resort scheme.
IRS is a project for construction and sale of luxury villas to foreigners near the coastal region of Mauritius. The acquisition of a villa for residential purposes only, under the scheme, will allow the foreigner and their family to reside in Mauritius as long as they hold the property.
The residence permit granted under the IRS to an investor, his or her spouse and dependants, remains in force until the non-citizen holds immovable property in Mauritius under the scheme. Applications for residence permit have to be made at the time of applying for IRS.
“The property market is now becoming a very important part of the investment arena, be it for a private individual or a fund manager managing a global diversified fund. With the recent introduction of the IRS, Mauritius has opened its doors to property investors from all over the world.
Being a small island means there can never be an oversupply of property, hence the great investment value,” says Mayank B Patel, chairman & CEO of Currencies Direct, a London-headquartered non-bank provider of international payments, treasury services and commercial forex, which has just set up an office in Mauritius. Mr Patel, who spoke to ET from London, feels that with the Indian community turning very investment savvy, IRS is likely to be a big hit in India.
Under IRS, a minimum investment of $500,000 is required for the luxury villas, which are sold as part of a complex with international standard facilities such as golf course, marina and individual swimming pool, nautical and other sport facilities, health centre and catering.
Maintenance, waste disposal, gardening, security and other household services are also included. Out of $500,000, an amount of $70,000 goes towards payment of land registration duty to the Mauritius government. The area of land with each villa cannot exceed 1.25 arpents (0.5276 hectares).
Feels Anuj Puri, MD, Trammell Crow Meghraj: “This is an astute move by Mauritius to bring in valuable forex. Mauritius has always been a popular destination for Indians. However, it is unlikely that many Indians will buy such properties there for year-round residential purposes.
A more likely scenario is that properties will be bought and let out for extensive periods, to be used by the owners only on a vacation basis.
Since Mauritius is a favoured tourist destination, this presents a win-win situation for both the Indian investor and the Mauritian government, considering that Mauritius serves as an international business hub.”
Besides non-citizens of Mauritius, foreign companies, local companies and local citizens can also avail of the resort scheme.
# posted by mashup @ 9:26 PM 
