Driving in Panama
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Singapore on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
81 exceptions recorded across 33 countries · none match Singapore to Panama · Driving and licence exchange
Ninety days on your own licence as a tourist, and then nothing - the traffic regulation says in terms that a tourist may not obtain a Panamanian licence or permit, and may not get one by virtue of an extension either. Only Panamanians and foreigners with authorised residence can hold a Panamanian licence, and the regulation sets out the route as a first application with a training course and sight and hearing tests, not as an exchange of a foreign licence. Public-passenger-transport licences are closed to foreigners outright: the regulation requires Panamanian nationality for them. A licence runs four years, or two for a driver over seventy.
At a glance
- Driving as a tourist
- 90 days on a foreign licence
Aligned with the ninety-day tourist ceiling in the migration law.
- Can a tourist get a Panamanian licence?
- No, expressly
- Can a tourist get one by extending the stay?
- No
- Who can hold a Panamanian licence
- Panamanians and residents, 18 and over
- Licence validity
- 4 years
- Over 70
- 2 years
And renewal needs a certificate from a geriatrician or internal-medicine specialist.
- Public-passenger transport
- Panamanians only
Plus two years' experience on a type C or D licence.
- Provisional permit
- From age sixteen, daytime hours only
Requirements
- Eighteen or over, and either Panamanian or a foreigner with authorised residence in Panama
- A first-time car or motorcycle licence requires sight and hearing tests and a training course given by the Autoridad del Tránsito y Transporte Terrestre or its authorised agent
- Laboratory and sensory tests carried out by agents the transit authority has authorised
- Tourists may drive for ninety days on a valid licence from their own country and may not apply for a Panamanian one
- Holders of special stay permits need a specific authorisation from the transit authority, supported by their licence and a diplomatic or competent-authority certification of its authenticity
- Panamanian nationality for a public-passenger-transport licence
In detail
The ninety days match the visa, and they are hard-edged
Article 110 does two things in one sentence. It allows a tourist to drive on a valid licence from their own country for ninety days - the same ceiling the migration law sets for the stay itself - and it forbids a tourist from obtaining a Panamanian licence or permit at all. It then closes the obvious workaround: no licence by virtue of an extension either. So the sixty extra days a tourist can get while assembling a residency application do not come with driving rights, and someone in that window is driving on nothing once the ninety are up.
The regulation has no exchange procedure
What the regulation gives a resident is a first application: sight and hearing tests and a training course run by the transit authority or an authorised agent, with the laboratory and sensory tests done by authorised providers. There is no article anywhere in the licensing chapter providing for the recognition, homologation or exchange of a foreign licence for a Panamanian one. The only provision that looks at a foreign licence at all is article 111, and it is addressed to holders of special stay permits, who get an authorisation from the transit authority rather than a licence, on production of their foreign licence and a certification of its authenticity. If an exchange procedure exists in practice, it is not in this regulation.
Country-level policy
Panamanian statutes and decrees write money in balboas, with the symbol B/. - a tourist must show B/.500, a pensioner needs B/.1,000 a month, the own-means route costs B/.300,000. None of those is a sum you would ever need to convert. Panama has no circulating banknote of its own: its Constitution forbids forced-tender paper money, and what circulates is the United States dollar, with the balboa surviving as coinage and as the unit in which the law is written. The migration regulation makes the equivalence operational without ever stating it: where an applicant's document is in a foreign currency, the regulation requires a conversion into dollars, while every threshold it sets is expressed in balboas.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Singapore
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«Los panameños y los extranjeros con residencia autorizada en la República de Panamá, mayores de dieciocho (18) años, podrán obtener una licencia de conducir vehículos, siempre que cumplan con los requisitos establecidos en el presente Reglamento.»Our translation - not official
Panamanians and foreigners with authorised residence in the Republic of Panama, over eighteen (18) years of age, may obtain a licence to drive vehicles, provided they meet the requirements established in this Regulation.
About this source
Panama's official gazette. An instrument takes effect on publication here and carries its gazette number as part of its identity, which is how the Friendly Nations list, the migration decree-law and every decree amending them are identified.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It publishes acts as enacted and never republishes the amended text, so it cannot be cited for consolidated law - and on Panama that bites hard: Decreto Ejecutivo 26 de 2009 alone substituted fifty-six articles of the 2008 regulation, and an article number inside an amending decree is an instruction to amend rather than the article of the resulting regulation. Worse, some issues are page images with no text layer: Gaceta 29335 of 2021 extracts only its contents page, which is why the current Friendly Nations property threshold cannot be stated. Anything quoted from a gazette must be checked for recognition damage first and declared as ocr where it is a reading of a picture.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«Los extranjeros que ingresen a la República de Panamá en calidad de turistas, no podrán obtener licencia ni
permiso de conducir y solamente podrán conducir vehículos con licencia vigente de su país de origen por un periodo de
noventa (90) días. Los mismos tampoco podrán obtener licencia ni permiso para conducir en virtud de prórroga.»Our translation - not official
Foreigners who enter the Republic of Panama as tourists may not obtain a driving licence or permit and may only drive vehicles with a valid licence from their country of origin for a period of ninety (90) days. Nor may they obtain a licence or permit to drive by virtue of an extension.
About this source
Panama's official gazette. An instrument takes effect on publication here and carries its gazette number as part of its identity, which is how the Friendly Nations list, the migration decree-law and every decree amending them are identified.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It publishes acts as enacted and never republishes the amended text, so it cannot be cited for consolidated law - and on Panama that bites hard: Decreto Ejecutivo 26 de 2009 alone substituted fifty-six articles of the 2008 regulation, and an article number inside an amending decree is an instruction to amend rather than the article of the resulting regulation. Worse, some issues are page images with no text layer: Gaceta 29335 of 2021 extracts only its contents page, which is why the current Friendly Nations property threshold cannot be stated. Anything quoted from a gazette must be checked for recognition damage first and declared as ocr where it is a reading of a picture.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«Los extranjeros con permisos especiales de estadía en el país, solamente podrán conducir con permiso de la
Autoridad del Tránsito y Transporte Terrestre, previa presentación de su licencia de conducir y certificación de la
representación diplomática o autoridad idónea para acreditar la autenticidad del documento.»Our translation - not official
Foreigners with special stay permits in the country may only drive with the authorisation of the Land Transit and Transport Authority, on presentation of their driving licence and a certification from the diplomatic representation or competent authority attesting the authenticity of the document.
About this source
Panama's official gazette. An instrument takes effect on publication here and carries its gazette number as part of its identity, which is how the Friendly Nations list, the migration decree-law and every decree amending them are identified.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It publishes acts as enacted and never republishes the amended text, so it cannot be cited for consolidated law - and on Panama that bites hard: Decreto Ejecutivo 26 de 2009 alone substituted fifty-six articles of the 2008 regulation, and an article number inside an amending decree is an instruction to amend rather than the article of the resulting regulation. Worse, some issues are page images with no text layer: Gaceta 29335 of 2021 extracts only its contents page, which is why the current Friendly Nations property threshold cannot be stated. Anything quoted from a gazette must be checked for recognition damage first and declared as ocr where it is a reading of a picture.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«b.1 Ser panameño.»Our translation - not official
b.1 Be Panamanian.
The first condition for a first-time type E1, E2 or E3 licence - selective transport and buses. The regulation closes public passenger transport to foreigners as a matter of nationality rather than of residence.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Panama's official gazette. An instrument takes effect on publication here and carries its gazette number as part of its identity, which is how the Friendly Nations list, the migration decree-law and every decree amending them are identified.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It publishes acts as enacted and never republishes the amended text, so it cannot be cited for consolidated law - and on Panama that bites hard: Decreto Ejecutivo 26 de 2009 alone substituted fifty-six articles of the 2008 regulation, and an article number inside an amending decree is an instruction to amend rather than the article of the resulting regulation. Worse, some issues are page images with no text layer: Gaceta 29335 of 2021 extracts only its contents page, which is why the current Friendly Nations property threshold cannot be stated. Anything quoted from a gazette must be checked for recognition damage first and declared as ocr where it is a reading of a picture.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«La licencia de conducir tendrá una vigencia de cuatro (4) años»Our translation - not official
The driving licence shall be valid for four (4) years.
About this source
Panama's official gazette. An instrument takes effect on publication here and carries its gazette number as part of its identity, which is how the Friendly Nations list, the migration decree-law and every decree amending them are identified.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It publishes acts as enacted and never republishes the amended text, so it cannot be cited for consolidated law - and on Panama that bites hard: Decreto Ejecutivo 26 de 2009 alone substituted fifty-six articles of the 2008 regulation, and an article number inside an amending decree is an instruction to amend rather than the article of the resulting regulation. Worse, some issues are page images with no text layer: Gaceta 29335 of 2021 extracts only its contents page, which is why the current Friendly Nations property threshold cannot be stated. Anything quoted from a gazette must be checked for recognition damage first and declared as ocr where it is a reading of a picture.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«La licencia de conducir de las personas mayores de setenta (70) años tendrá una vigencia de dos (2) años»Our translation - not official
The driving licence of persons over seventy (70) years of age shall be valid for two (2) years.
About this source
Panama's official gazette. An instrument takes effect on publication here and carries its gazette number as part of its identity, which is how the Friendly Nations list, the migration decree-law and every decree amending them are identified.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It publishes acts as enacted and never republishes the amended text, so it cannot be cited for consolidated law - and on Panama that bites hard: Decreto Ejecutivo 26 de 2009 alone substituted fifty-six articles of the 2008 regulation, and an article number inside an amending decree is an instruction to amend rather than the article of the resulting regulation. Worse, some issues are page images with no text layer: Gaceta 29335 of 2021 extracts only its contents page, which is why the current Friendly Nations property threshold cannot be stated. Anything quoted from a gazette must be checked for recognition damage first and declared as ocr where it is a reading of a picture.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«se presentará una certificación de un médico con especialización en geriatría o medicina interna, en la cual conste que el conductor se encuentra en condiciones físicas y mentales aptas para conducir un vehículo»Our translation - not official
a certification from a doctor specialising in geriatrics or internal medicine shall be presented, stating that the driver is in fit physical and mental condition to drive a vehicle
Required to renew above seventy, which is worth knowing on a route Panama markets to retirees.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Panama's official gazette. An instrument takes effect on publication here and carries its gazette number as part of its identity, which is how the Friendly Nations list, the migration decree-law and every decree amending them are identified.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It publishes acts as enacted and never republishes the amended text, so it cannot be cited for consolidated law - and on Panama that bites hard: Decreto Ejecutivo 26 de 2009 alone substituted fifty-six articles of the 2008 regulation, and an article number inside an amending decree is an instruction to amend rather than the article of the resulting regulation. Worse, some issues are page images with no text layer: Gaceta 29335 of 2021 extracts only its contents page, which is why the current Friendly Nations property threshold cannot be stated. Anything quoted from a gazette must be checked for recognition damage first and declared as ocr where it is a reading of a picture.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
Practical notes
Panamanian licensing is operated by Sertracen under concession from the Autoridad del Tránsito y Transporte Terrestre, and the exchange of a foreign licence for a Panamanian one is widely described by law firms and by the press. We could not reach the transit authority's own site - its certificate fails validation - and we did not find a primary page from the authority or the concessionaire setting out an exchange procedure. The regulation quoted here contains none, and the gap between the two is unresolved.
The requirement to be Panamanian for a public-transport licence is in the first-time requirements for licence types E1, E2 and E3. We did not find a parallel nationality condition for the heavy-goods types F, G, H and I, which require two years' prior experience instead.
Decreto Ejecutivo 640 de 2006 was read in the gazette that published it. We did not check whether it has been amended since, and the sources catalogue should treat that as the open question on this topic.
- issuesDecreto Ejecutivo 640 de 27 de diciembre de 2006, Reglamento de Tránsito Vehicular, Gaceta Oficial 25701
Gaceta Oficial Digital de la República de Panamá
About this source
Panama's official gazette. An instrument takes effect on publication here and carries its gazette number as part of its identity, which is how the Friendly Nations list, the migration decree-law and every decree amending them are identified.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It publishes acts as enacted and never republishes the amended text, so it cannot be cited for consolidated law - and on Panama that bites hard: Decreto Ejecutivo 26 de 2009 alone substituted fifty-six articles of the 2008 regulation, and an article number inside an amending decree is an instruction to amend rather than the article of the resulting regulation. Worse, some issues are page images with no text layer: Gaceta 29335 of 2021 extracts only its contents page, which is why the current Friendly Nations property threshold cannot be stated. Anything quoted from a gazette must be checked for recognition damage first and declared as ocr where it is a reading of a picture.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source