Country-wide policy
What Every Residence Application in Panama Has in Common
Whatever route you take, the same frame applies. The application goes in through a Panamanian lawyer - the decree-law makes that compulsory, with two exceptions - and it carries the same five common requirements and the same two payments: B/.250 to the Treasury and a B/.800 repatriation deposit. Almost every permanent-resident route then gives you two provisional years before permanence can be asked for. The migration service has sixty working days to decide and fifteen to let you fix an incomplete file. Once you have permanent residence, two years out of the country can take it away.
Topics it changes
- Residency on passive income
- Residency as a retiree
- Residency through work
- Residency through investment
- Residency as a student
- Residency through marriage
- Residency through ancestry
- Residency under a regional treaty
- Becoming a citizen
- Visiting as a tourist
What it requires
- An application filed through a Panamanian lawyer, except where the category is applied for from abroad or is a study permit
- A notarised copy of the passport, or one certified by the applicant's diplomatic mission
- A police certificate from the country of origin or residence, or a consular statement plus a sworn declaration where no such certificate exists
- A health certificate issued within the previous three months
- B/.250 to the National Treasury and B/.800 to the Servicio Nacional de Migración as a repatriation deposit
- A sworn statement of personal antecedents, and legalisation of every document from abroad
- Two years of provisional residence before permanence, on almost every permanent-resident route
At a glance
- Lawyer
- Compulsory, with two exceptions
Applications filed from abroad, and study permits.
- Treasury fee
- B/.250
Article 28.4 of the decree-law. Dollar amount - Panama is dollarised.
- Repatriation deposit
- B/.800
Article 28.4. Waived for religious workers, students, spouses of Panamanians, children under twelve and anyone a special law exempts.
- Health certificate validity
- 3 months
- Provisional residence before permanence
- 2 years
- Time the agency has to decide
- 60 working days
- Time to cure an incomplete file
- 15 working days
- Absence that cancels permanent residence
- More than 2 years
Unless justified and authorised by the Director of the Servicio Nacional de Migración.
The lawyer is not optional
Article 28 requires every application for a temporary or permanent resident permit filed in Panama to go through an apoderado legal - a Panamanian lawyer holding a power of attorney. The two exceptions are a category applied for from abroad and the study permit, which can be filed in person at a Panamanian consulate. Every requirement sheet the migration service publishes starts with the same first item: a notarised power of attorney and application, and the power has to name the applicant's parents and their nationalities. It is why the cost of residence in Panama is not the sum of the fees.
Absence, counted continuously
Permanent residence can be cancelled where the holder is absent from Panama for more than two years, unless the absence is justified and authorised by the Director of the migration service in advance. The important word is 'ausentarse ... por más de dos años' - this is a continuous-absence rule rather than a presence quota. Someone who spends eight months a year abroad every year for a decade does not breach it; someone who leaves for twenty-five months once does. Several of the countries in this comparison write the same idea the other way round, as a minimum number of days inside the country, and the two rules catch completely different people.
Sixty working days, and what used to follow
The decree-law gives the migration service sixty working days to decide, with fifteen working days granted to the applicant to cure an incomplete file, and gives the applicant a receipt for the file in the meantime. It also contains a transitional paragraph, applying from the first year the decree-law was in force, under which failure to decide in time meant the application was taken to be approved. That was a transitional provision of 2008 and we do not read it as operative now; it is recorded because it is quoted in circulation as if it were.
What the law says
«deberá ser presentada mediante apoderado legal, de acuerdo con los requisitos establecidos para cada categoría de visa o permiso, a excepción de aquella categoría que se solicite desde el exterior y aquella categoría aplicable por razón de educación»Our translation - not official
must be filed through a legal representative, in accordance with the requirements established for each category of visa or permit, except for the category applied for from abroad and the category applicable by reason of education.
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
«Certificado de salud expedido por un profesional idóneo, dentro de los tres meses anteriores a la presentación de la solicitud.»Our translation - not official
Health certificate issued by a qualified professional within the three months preceding the filing of the application.
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
«Pago de doscientos cincuenta balboas a favor del Tesoro Nacional en concepto de derechos por la solicitud de una categoría migratoria, y de ochocientos balboas a favor del Servicio Nacional de Migración en concepto de depósito de repatriación.»Our translation - not official
Payment of two hundred and fifty balboas to the National Treasury as fees for the application for a migration category, and of eight hundred balboas to the National Migration Service as a repatriation deposit.
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
«El Servicio Nacional de Migración otorgará a los extranjeros solicitantes de las
categorías migratorias establecidas en el presente Capítulo, un permiso provisional de residencia
de dos años, con su respectivo documento de identificación.»Our translation - not official
The National Migration Service shall grant foreigners applying for the migration categories established in this Chapter a provisional residence permit of two years, with its corresponding identity 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
«El Servicio Nacional de Migración resolverá las solicitudes de permisos de residentes temporales o permanentes, en un término no mayor de sesenta días hábiles.»Our translation - not official
The National Migration Service shall decide applications for temporary or permanent resident permits within a term of no more than sixty working days.
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
«En caso de que se detecte una solicitud incompleta o defectuosa, se concederá un plazo de quince días hábiles, a partir de la notificación, para subsanarla.»Our translation - not official
Where an application is found to be incomplete or defective, a period of fifteen working days from notification is granted to remedy it.
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
«En el caso de residentes permanentes, ausentarse del territorio nacional por más de dos años, salvo que tal ausencia sea justificada y autorizada por el Director del Servicio Nacional de Migración.»Our translation - not official
In the case of permanent residents, being absent from the national territory for more than two years, unless the absence is justified and authorised by the Director of the National Migration Service.
A continuous-absence rule, not a presence quota. Two separate absences of eighteen months each do not breach it; one of twenty-five months does.
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
«Están exentos del pago en concepto de depósito de repatriación, los religiosos, los estudiantes, los casados con panameños, las personas menores de doce años de edad y las personas que así se disponga por leyes especiales.»Our translation - not official
Exempt from payment of the repatriation deposit are religious workers, students, people married to Panamanians, persons under twelve years of age and persons so provided for by special laws.
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
Practical notes
The repatriation deposit is a deposit rather than a fee: article 28.4 calls it a 'depósito de repatriación' and the exemptions in article 29 are framed as exemptions from paying it. We did not find the provision governing its return.
The common requirements are a floor. Each subcategory adds its own, and several - the Panama Canal Authority route, the marriage route, the pensionado - are expressly relieved of one or other of them by the regulation.