Visas
Nationals of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, Kosovo, Laos, Libya, Mali, North Korea, Pakistan, Palestine, Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, Taiwan, and Yemen must apply for a visa prior to travel.
All other nations do not need to apply for a visa beforehand and, depending on nationality, are either entitled to a 90-day visa-free stay or a visa on arrival valid for either 60 or 14 days. For more information, visit the Passport and Immigration Office website.
If you require a visa to enter Mauritius, you might be able to apply for one at a British embassy, high commission or consulate in the country where you legally reside if there is no diplomatic post of Mauritius. For example, the British embassies in Al Khobar, Amman, Belgrade, Guatemala City, Jakarta, Jeddah, Pristina, Rabat, Riyadh, Rome and Sofia accept Mauritius visa applications (this list is not exhaustive). British diplomatic posts charge £50 to process a Mauritius visa application and an extra £70 if the authorities in Mauritius require the visa application to be referred to them. The authorities in Mauritius can also decide to charge an additional fee if they correspond with you directly.
Mauritius does not have an official language, but the main language of government is English. As such, all government administrative documents are in the Commonwealth variety of English, which is also used as the prime medium of instruction in public schools.
However, French is the language most commonly used in formal settings, and is by far the dominant language in the mass media, as well as in corporate and business dealings. In fact, even English language television programs are usually dubbed into French.
The most commonly spoken language is Mauritian Creole, a French based creole which has incorporated some words from diverse sources including but not limited to English, Dutch and Portuguese, and has slight pronunciation differences from standard French. While there is no official written standard for Mauritian Creole, when written down for informal communication, words are often spelled differently from standard French.
The next most commonly spoken language is French, which is spoken fluently by most locals, with English being a not too distant third. Virtually everyone working in the tourism industry will be able to speak fairly decent, albeit heavily accented, English, and all government departments will have English-speaking staff on duty.
Tamils constitute around 10% of the population and speak Tamil. Other languages spoken by much smaller numbers include: Hindi, Urdu, Hakka, Bhojpuri and Mandarin.
Be alert for your own security in Mauritius. Exercise common sense and look out for suspicious behaviour, as you would anywhere in the world. Be a smart traveller. Before your trip: Organize comprehensive travel insurance and check what circumstances and activities are not covered by your policy. Register your travel and contact details, so that you can be contacted in an emergency.