Investing Your Way to Panamanian Residence
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Colombia 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 Colombia to Panama · Residency through investment
Panama prices investor residence by what you invest in rather than by a single headline figure. Reforestation is the cheapest door and the one that was rewritten most recently: B/.80,000 buys a temporary permit, B/.100,000 a permanent one through the usual two-year provisional stage, and B/.350,000 permanent residence automatically - but since 2021 the investment has to be held five years or the residence is cancelled. A company investment takes B/.160,000 of paid-up registered shares and, unusually, five full-time Panamanian employees per applicant on the payroll. Capital parked in a bank deposit or in property is a different topic: that is the B/.300,000 own-means route.
At a glance
- Forestry, temporary permit
- B/.80,000as of 2021-05-20
Set by the 2021 amendment of the regulation. Panama is dollarised, so this is a dollar figure.
- Forestry, permanent residence
- B/.100,000as of 2021-05-20
Reached through the two-year provisional stage.
- Forestry, automatic permanent residence
- B/.350,000as of 2021-05-20
The only route we found in Panamanian migration law that skips the provisional stage on the strength of money alone.
- Forestry holding period
- 5 yearsas of 2021-05-20
Added in 2021. Letting the investment lapse inside it is an express ground for cancelling the residence.
- Company investment
- B/.160,000 of share capitalas of 2008-08-08
Per applicant, in registered shares fully paid up. Dollar amount.
- Panamanian employees required
- 5 per applicant
Full-time, at the regional minimum wage, registered with social security. The regulation writes it as cinco (5) empleados panameños. No other investor route in this comparison imposes it.
- Per dependant
- B/.2,000
Added to the investment, provable by a local bank reference. Dollar amount - Panama is dollarised.
- Provisional stage
- 2 years
Except on the B/.350,000 forestry route.
Requirements
- Forestry: B/.80,000 invested directly in reforestation or forest plantation for the temporary permit, B/.100,000 for permanent residence, or B/.350,000 for automatic permanent residence
- Forestry: the investment held for at least five years, evidenced annually, or the residence is cancelled
- Forestry: a Ministerio de Ambiente forestry-registry resolution and a certified public accountant's certification of the sum actually invested
- Company: B/.160,000 of share capital per applicant, in registered shares fully paid and held personally
- Company: five full-time Panamanian employees per applicant, at or above the regional minimum wage, registered with the Caja de Seguro Social
- B/.2,000 of additional solvency per dependant on either route
- The common requirements of article 28 of the decree-law, plus B/.250 to the Treasury and B/.800 as a repatriation deposit
In detail
Reforestation is the route Panama has actually been tuning
The forestry investor is the only investor subcategory anyone has amended this decade. Decreto Ejecutivo 199 de 2021 rewrote six articles of the regulation at once: it raised the permanent-residence threshold from B/.80,000 to B/.100,000, kept B/.80,000 for the temporary permit, dropped the old requirement that the investment cover at least five hectares, created an automatic permanent residence at B/.350,000, and - this is the part that gets left out - added a new article requiring the investment to be held five years, with annual evidence, failing which the Servicio Nacional de Migración cancels the residence of its own motion. Panama's decree-law obliges the executive to revisit these minimums every two years, and this is what that looks like when it happens.
The company route buys residence with a payroll as well as with capital
B/.160,000 of share capital sounds modest next to the B/.300,000 own-means route until you read article 188: the company must carry five full-time Panamanian employees for each foreign applicant, paid at least the regional minimum wage and registered with the Caja de Seguro Social, and the payroll has to be produced, certified by social security, from one of the three months before the application. The shares must be registered rather than bearer shares and fully paid, the applicant must be both shareholder and an officer of the company, and the bank certification showing the funds came from abroad is compulsory rather than one option among several.
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 Colombia
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 el permiso de Inversionista Forestal, el extranjero que invierta, a título personal o a través de una persona jurídica, un monto mínimo de ochenta mil balboas (B/.80,000.00) en actividades de reforestación o plantación forestal u otros autorizados por el Ministerio de Ambiente.»Our translation - not official
The Forestry Investor permit may be applied for by the foreigner who invests, personally or through a legal entity, a minimum amount of eighty thousand balboas (B/.80,000.00) in reforestation or forest plantation activities or others authorised by the Ministry of the Environment.
Cited to the article of the regulation that results. Decreto Ejecutivo 199 de 2021 article 1 is the instruction; article 100 of Decreto Ejecutivo 320 de 2008 is the rule.
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
«Podrá solicitar este permiso de residente permanente en calidad de Inversionista Forestal, el extranjero que invierta, a título personal o a través de una persona jurídica, un monto mínimo de cien mil balboas (B/.100,000.00) en actividades de reforestación o plantación forestal u otros autorizados por el Ministerio de Ambiente.»Our translation - not official
This permanent resident permit as a Forestry Investor may be applied for by the foreigner who invests, personally or through a legal entity, a minimum amount of one hundred thousand balboas (B/.100,000.00) in reforestation or forest plantation activities or others authorised by the Ministry of the Environment.
Before this substitution the same article, as amended in 2009, required B/.80,000 and an area of at least five hectares. The hectare requirement is gone.
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
«En caso que el extranjero, a título personal o a través de una persona jurídica, invierta un monto mínimo de trescientos cincuenta mil balboas (B/.350,000.00) en actividades de reforestación o plantación forestal u otros autorizados por el Ministerio de Ambiente, podrá optar por la residencia permanente en forma automática.»Our translation - not official
Where the foreigner, personally or through a legal entity, invests a minimum amount of three hundred and fifty thousand balboas (B/.350,000.00) in reforestation or forest plantation activities or others authorised by the Ministry of the Environment, he may obtain permanent residence automatically.
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
«es necesario que la inversion se mantenga por un periodo mínimo de cinco años. Si la inversion cesara o deja de existir antes del cumplimiento de este término, ello dará lugar a la cancelación oficiosa de la residencia permanente otorgada por el Servicio Nacional de Migración.»Our translation - not official
the investment must be maintained for a minimum period of five years. If the investment ceases or stops existing before that term is completed, this shall give rise to cancellation on the authority's own motion of the permanent residence granted by the National Migration Service.
The publisher's spelling 'inversion' without the accent is left as published.
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
«Podrán solicitar este permiso los extranjeros que deseen invertir en una macro-empresa, con un capital social mínimo de ciento sesenta mil balboas (B/.160,000.00) por solicitante, siendo estos accionistas y dignatarios de la misma empresa»Our translation - not official
This permit may be applied for by foreigners wishing to invest in a macro-enterprise, with a minimum share capital of one hundred and sixty thousand balboas (B/.160,000.00) per applicant, they being shareholders and officers of that company
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
«La empresa debe contar con una planilla de cinco (5) empleados panameños (por cada solicitante), laborando a tiempo completo, devengando un salario no menor del mínimo establecido en la Ley para cada región»Our translation - not official
The company must have a payroll of five (5) Panamanian employees (for each applicant), working full time, earning a salary not less than the minimum established by law for each region
This is the condition that most distinguishes Panama's company-investor route from its neighbours', and it is the one the agency's own requirement sheet leaves out of its headline summary of article 185.
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
«En caso de traer dependientes se debe incrementar la inversión a dos mil balboas (B/.2,000.00) por cada dependiente, la cual puede justificarse con referencia bancaria local.»Our translation - not official
Where dependants are brought, the investment must be increased by two thousand balboas (B/.2,000.00) for each dependant, which may be evidenced by a local bank reference.
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
Practical notes
Panama also runs investor routes attached to special economic regimes - the Panamá-Pacífico area, export processing zones, export call centres and the film and audiovisual industry each have their own subcategory in the regulation and their own requirement sheet at the migration service. We did not read the special laws that create those regimes and state nothing about their thresholds.
The Qualified Investor route that appears constantly in English-language promotion of Panama is not in Decreto Ejecutivo 320 de 2008 and we did not locate the decree that creates it. Nothing here should be read as describing it.
The Servicio Nacional de Migración's sheet for the company route quotes article 185 without the word 'macro-empresa' and without the five-employee condition of article 188, which appears further down the same sheet. The regulation is the better guide to what will actually be asked for.
Neither the B/.160,000 nor the B/.300,000 route carries a holding period in the instruments; only the forestry route does, and only since 2021. A sale inside the provisional two years would still engage article 31.8 of the decree-law, which cancels residence when the reasons that justified it cease.
- issuesDecreto Ejecutivo No. 199 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
- 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
- administersRequisitos para solicitar permiso provisional de residente permanente por razones de inversionista de la macro-empresa
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 provisional de residente permanente por razones de inversión forestal
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