Living in Panama on Your Own Means
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Greece 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 Greece to Panama · Residency on passive income
Panama has no residence permit that tests a monthly income from abroad. Its answer to the person who says 'I can support myself' is a capital test: B/.300,000 placed in a three-year fixed deposit at a Panamanian bank, or held as unencumbered Panamanian real estate, or split between the two. The permit is granted provisionally for two years before permanence can be asked for. The nearest thing to an income test anywhere in the migration rules is the remote-worker visa created in 2021, which asks for B/.36,000 a year from a foreign source - but that is a short-stay visa in the non-resident category, not residence, and it is capped at eighteen months.
At a glance
- Threshold
- B/.300,000as of 2008-08-08
Unchanged since the regulation was made; Decreto Ejecutivo 26 de 2009 did not touch articles 191 to 193. Panama is dollarised, so this is a dollar figure.
- Monthly income test
- None
No subcategory in the permanent-resident title of the regulation tests recurring income except the retirement routes.
- Fixed deposit term
- 3 years minimum
- Per dependant
- B/.2,000
Provable by a local bank reference rather than extra capital placed.
- Provisional stage
- 2 years before permanence
- Fees
- B/.250 plus B/.800
Treasury fee and repatriation deposit under article 28.4 of the decree-law. Dollar amounts.
- Remote-worker visa income test
- B/.36,000 a year
B/.3,000 a month from a foreign source. This is a non-resident short-stay visa, not residence.
- Remote-worker visa duration
- 9 months, extendable once
Requirements
- B/.300,000 in one of three forms: a fixed-term deposit of at least three years at a bank holding a general licence in Panama, unencumbered Panamanian real estate held in your own name, or a combination of the two
- Proof that the funds came from abroad
- An additional B/.2,000 for each dependant
- The common requirements of article 28 of the decree-law: passport, police certificate, health certificate, sworn statement of personal antecedents
- B/.250 to the National Treasury and B/.800 to the Servicio Nacional de Migración
- Application filed through a Panamanian lawyer
- After two years as a provisional resident, a further application for permanence, with a national tax clearance
In detail
Capital, not income
The question a reader usually asks - 'how much do I need to earn to live there?' - has no answer in Panamanian migration law unless you are retired. The permanent-resident title of the regulation is organised by economic reasons, special policies, demographic reasons, labour and religion, and the only subcategory addressed to someone living on their own resources is Solvencia Económica Propia, which measures a stock of capital rather than a flow. Three hundred thousand balboas in a three-year bank deposit, or in Panamanian property held free of encumbrances in your own name, or in a mix of the two, and the money has to be shown to have come from outside the country. Where the property is worth more than the threshold, the balance may be mortgaged locally - but on the mixed route that financing concession is expressly disapplied.
The remote-worker visa is the income test Panama does have, and it is not residence
In May 2021 Panama created a Short Stay Visa as a Remote Worker: B/.36,000 a year, B/.3,000 a month, from a foreign source, for someone employed by a foreign company or self-employed and working remotely. It is explicit that the holder may work remotely from Panama without any further permission from any other state body - which is a real liberty, since the ordinary tourist category is defined by having no intention of settling. But it sits in the non-resident category, lasts nine months, is extendable once and no more, and carries a sworn declaration that the holder will not accept work or business from anyone in Panama. It builds nothing: no years count towards permanence, and no route runs from it to residence.
What the two years of provisional residence actually mean
Article 21 of the decree-law grants every applicant in the permanent-resident categories a two-year provisional permit first, and permanence is a second application made after it. The capital has to still be there: the permanence application repeats the same proofs, dropping only the police certificate and the cheques, and adds a national tax clearance. A deposit withdrawn or a property sold inside the two years is a cancellation ground under article 31.8 of the decree-law, which cancels residence when the reasons that justified it cease.
Country-level policy
The rules that decide every Panamanian residence application sit in one 2008 decree that has been amended piece by piece ever since, and the state has never published a consolidated version of it. A single 2009 decree substituted fifty-six articles, added six and repealed parts of six more. Later decrees rewrote the forestry investor and created the remote-worker visa. The practical effect for a reader is that an article number alone proves nothing: article 196 of the regulation has said B/.2,000 and B/.850 at different times, and both texts are findable. Even the Servicio Nacional de Migración's own requirement sheets cite amendments to articles that were never amended.
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.
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.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Greece
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
«Podrá solicitar este permiso el extranjero que invierta la suma mínima de trescientos mil balboas (B/.300,000.00) en bienes inmuebles o depósito a plazo fijo o la combinación de ambos y demuestre que los fondos provienen del extranjero. En caso de incluir dependientes deberá demostrar una solvencia adicional de dos mil balboas (B/.2,000.00) por cada uno.»Our translation - not official
This permit may be applied for by the foreigner who invests the minimum sum of three hundred thousand balboas (B/.300,000.00) in real estate or a fixed-term deposit or a combination of both, and who shows that the funds come from abroad. Where dependants are included, an additional solvency of two thousand balboas (B/.2,000.00) for each must be shown.
Article 191 is not among the articles substituted by Decreto Ejecutivo 26 de 2009, whose closing article lists them, so this is the text in force.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The legislature's normative archive. Each PDF carries a header naming the instrument's type, number, year, date, gazette number and publication date, which makes it the most reliable way to date a Panamanian instrument precisely.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It archives the act as filed and does not record later amendments on the face of the document, so it must not be cited for what an instrument says now: its copy of the 2008 migration regulation still shows B/.2,000 for the retired rentista, a figure superseded in 2009. Its older scans are also recognitions of pictures rather than text - its copy of Ley 52 de 2012 renders the words for one hundred and eighty-three as ciento coberta y tres - so anything pre-2010 should be treated as a scan until shown otherwise.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Certificación bancaria de que ha aberturado una cuenta de depósito a plazo fijo a nombre del solicitante, con una duración mínima de tres (3) años, (el plazo fijo debe estar libre de todo gravamen) en cualquier banco de licencia general en el territorio nacional, por un valor mínimo de trescientos mil balboas (B/.300,000.00), o su equivalente en moneda extranjera»Our translation - not official
Bank certification that a fixed-term deposit account has been opened in the applicant's name, of at least three (3) years' duration (the deposit must be free of any encumbrance), at any bank holding a general licence in the national territory, for a minimum value of three hundred thousand balboas (B/.300,000.00) or its equivalent in foreign currency
The publisher's typo 'aberturado' is left as published.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The legislature's normative archive. Each PDF carries a header naming the instrument's type, number, year, date, gazette number and publication date, which makes it the most reliable way to date a Panamanian instrument precisely.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It archives the act as filed and does not record later amendments on the face of the document, so it must not be cited for what an instrument says now: its copy of the 2008 migration regulation still shows B/.2,000 for the retired rentista, a figure superseded in 2009. Its older scans are also recognitions of pictures rather than text - its copy of Ley 52 de 2012 renders the words for one hundred and eighty-three as ciento coberta y tres - so anything pre-2010 should be treated as a scan until shown otherwise.
We re-read it every 90 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. Transcurrido este periodo, los interesados podrán solicitar la permanencia, si cumplen con los requisitos que la ley y los reglamentos establecen.»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. After that period the applicants may request permanence, if they meet the requirements the law and the regulations establish.
This two-year provisional stage is the default for every permanent-resident subcategory, which is why the retirement route's exemption from it is worth noticing.
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
«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
«Reciba ingresos provenientes de fuente extranjera y con un monto anual no menor
de treinta y seis mil balboas con 00/100 (B/.36,000.00), o su equivalente en moneda
extranjera.»Our translation - not official
Receives income from a foreign source in an annual amount of not less than thirty-six thousand balboas (B/.36,000.00), or its equivalent in foreign currency.
Created the Short Stay Visa as a Remote Worker inside the non-resident category. It confers no residence and leads to none.
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 visa tendrá una duración de nueve meses, prorrogable una vez por el mismo periodo, y el
costo del carné correspondiente será de cincuenta balboas con 00/100 (B/.50.00).»Our translation - not official
The visa shall last nine months, extendable once for the same period, and the cost of the corresponding card shall be fifty balboas (B/.50.00).
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 Servicio Nacional de Migración's own requirement sheets for both the deposit and the property routes attribute articles 191 and 192 to an amendment by Decreto Ejecutivo 26 de 2009. That decree's closing article lists the articles it amends and neither 191 nor 192 is among them. The figure is the same either way, but the citation on the agency's sheet is wrong.
We did not find any Panamanian residence category that accepts a pension, annuity or rental income from abroad as a general means test outside the two retirement routes. That is based on the full list of subcategories in Títulos III and IV of Decreto Ejecutivo 320 de 2008 and on the Servicio Nacional de Migración's current catalogue of permit requirement sheets, not on an exhaustive review of Panamanian special-regime legislation, of which there is a great deal.
Nothing we read requires the B/.300,000 to be maintained after permanence is granted, in contrast to the forestry investor route, where a 2021 amendment expressly requires the investment to be held five years on pain of cancellation.
- consolidatesDecreto Ejecutivo No. 320 de 8 de agosto de 2008
Asamblea Nacional de Panamá - Legispan
About this source
The legislature's normative archive. Each PDF carries a header naming the instrument's type, number, year, date, gazette number and publication date, which makes it the most reliable way to date a Panamanian instrument precisely.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It archives the act as filed and does not record later amendments on the face of the document, so it must not be cited for what an instrument says now: its copy of the 2008 migration regulation still shows B/.2,000 for the retired rentista, a figure superseded in 2009. Its older scans are also recognitions of pictures rather than text - its copy of Ley 52 de 2012 renders the words for one hundred and eighty-three as ciento coberta y tres - so anything pre-2010 should be treated as a scan until shown otherwise.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- issuesDecreto Ley No. 3 de 22 de febrero de 2008, Gaceta Oficial Digital 25986
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
- administersRequisitos para solicitar permiso de residente permanente por razones de solvencia económica propia por apertura de depósito a plazo fijo
Servicio Nacional de Migración (Ministerio de Seguridad Pública)
About this source
Panama's migration service, under the Ministry of Public Security. It decides applications and publishes one requirement sheet per permit, which is the document an applicant and their lawyer actually work from.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for what the law says. Its sheets' legal-basis lines are wrong in both directions - they attribute amendments to articles that the decree they name never touched, and date that decree by its gazette rather than its signature - and on the retired rentista the same agency files the permit under permanent residence while the sheet behind the link quotes an article calling it temporary. It is authoritative for what the agency will ask for, and that is where its value lies. It also no longer publishes the list of visa-required nationalities. Its URLs rot: links followed from search results were already dead.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- administersRequisitos para solicitar permiso de residente permanente por razones de solvencia económica propia por inversión de bienes inmuebles
Servicio Nacional de Migración (Ministerio de Seguridad Pública)
About this source
Panama's migration service, under the Ministry of Public Security. It decides applications and publishes one requirement sheet per permit, which is the document an applicant and their lawyer actually work from.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for what the law says. Its sheets' legal-basis lines are wrong in both directions - they attribute amendments to articles that the decree they name never touched, and date that decree by its gazette rather than its signature - and on the retired rentista the same agency files the permit under permanent residence while the sheet behind the link quotes an article calling it temporary. It is authoritative for what the agency will ask for, and that is where its value lies. It also no longer publishes the list of visa-required nationalities. Its URLs rot: links followed from search results were already dead.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- issuesDecreto Ejecutivo No. 198 de 7 de mayo de 2021, Gaceta Oficial Digital 29290-A
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
- administersRequisitos para solicitar visa de corta estancia como trabajador remoto
Servicio Nacional de Migración (Ministerio de Seguridad Pública)
About this source
Panama's migration service, under the Ministry of Public Security. It decides applications and publishes one requirement sheet per permit, which is the document an applicant and their lawyer actually work from.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for what the law says. Its sheets' legal-basis lines are wrong in both directions - they attribute amendments to articles that the decree they name never touched, and date that decree by its gazette rather than its signature - and on the retired rentista the same agency files the permit under permanent residence while the sheet behind the link quotes an article calling it temporary. It is authoritative for what the agency will ask for, and that is where its value lies. It also no longer publishes the list of visa-required nationalities. Its URLs rot: links followed from search results were already dead.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source