Panama Visas Made Easy: Expert Breaks Down Residency Options for Expats

[Music] if you are going to make Panama part of your life res is going to be probably at the top of your list and I want to introduce renel de matak Kelly who is our go-to person for all things legal here in Panama you already know her she's going to tell you why obtaining residency can be easy she's gonna show you how renela melli ladies and gentlemen hello welcome to Panama um it's wonderful to have all of you here and uh I know legal stuff is not the most fun I cannot be like Jessica un

unfortunately it's not as fun as that but uh I do have a ton of information to share with you so here we go uh residency in Panama many of you have heard about the pensioner program The Friendly Nations and today we're just going to go through some of the highlights of the requirements um definitely Panama offers most flexibility with many other countries comparing with many other countries in Latin America because you are allowed to obtain M permanent residency here and if you decide to move away for a little while you can be up to almost

two years away from Panama and you still keep your residency so there's no minimum amount of months every year that you have to spend here so that gives you a lot of freedom also of course um immigration policies tend to vary from government to government slightly not huge deal of changes but some tweaking happens and we will be having a elections on the 5th of May so uh by the 1st of July most likely we'll have a new government we tend to elect the opposition government every time we love them and then we hate them

and want to get rid of them so so likely there will be a new government so let me know if you're coming later in the year or next year touch base with me and I'll send you the updated information so for all the residency visas in Panama this would be the requirements that are shared by all of them one is to have a valid passport I suggest that it has at least nine months validity when you come to apply you need a clean police record this means in the case of the US citizens that would

be an FBI report and for Canadians that would be an RCMP Report with fingerprints uh when I say clean yes it ought to be absolutely clean but if you have a little something in there and if it's little then I can probably help you to get immigration uh approval to have your Visa uh presented anyway so check with me if you think or remember that you have something in there that you forgot from your young days and I'll I'll let you know if it's something that we can work around if you're coming with your spouse

we'll need also a copy of your marriage certificate and that needs to be an update copy not the original uh I can tell you how to get those so no worries about that either and once you're in Panama you will need a health certificate no need to worry about these there's no big process of any kind it's just a simple your heart is beating that's it you're allowed to come in okay so so don't worry about it and uh okay so let's see these are the most popular visas that you may have heard of some

of them at least least um there are a number of options the best the ones that I will be discussing in more detail today are the pension or residency Visa because it's the easiest fastest and least expensive and I will also be touching on the friendly Nations visa for those of you who are not receiving a lifetime pension yet okay this is the one basically the requirements are easy you need to be receiving a lifetime pension not just income I can't unfortunately if you don't have a pension this Visa is not for you you may

have the income but if it's not a pension it doesn't work the minimum necessary is $1,000 if you're coming with your spouse ,250 would be the minimum but you can join if you both are receiving pensions they can be added up and if you only have a ,000 between you then that's okay because we can supplement it with a bank account in Panama with a minimum deposit of $2,000 and if your pension Falls below the $1,000 Mark say it's between 750 and 999 then you could uh supplement it by buying real estate in Panama it

would be a minimum of 100,000 um so if you have this is government pensions are really easy to process because the documentation is straightforward If you're receiving a private pension um then the paperwork is a bit more complicated and I need to really get into contact with you and your company provider pension provider to discuss exactly the documentation that we need because we will need to show that you'll be receiving it at least five months Etc the government tends to be a little bit more picky with private pensions because they want to make sure that

they are for real and they're not just made up because it was a time when a lot of people were just literally making up their pensions to come and apply so they they had to become a little tougher on that okay special benefits you've heard I'm sure if you're subscribers of I you have heard of all the discounts um one of the benefits is expedited approval is approved in less than six months so in less than six months you will have permanent residency and it's granted indefinitely it never needs to be renewed provided you stay

you are either living in Panama or you come to visit at least once short of every two years and uh you also get a discount that is solely for this Visa which is a reduction in the import duty of a car every two years or if you're buying locally a new car that also applies that discount applies for you plus there's an array of discounts on Medical Services Legal Services restaurants hotels airline ticket tickets Etc and the good news is that these discounts not the car one but the others are available to anyone who becomes

a resident of Panama if you come as a pensioner then your age is not a problem whatever your age is you're entitled to the discounts if you come under a different residency option like the friendly Nations and you are 55 or older for women and 60 or older for men you still get those benefits so no worries if you are coming under a different Visa than the pensionado okay this is a residency Visa I'm not going to spend a lot of time speaking about this is for high-end individuals whose time is really short and they

have more money than time is what I basically say so and and they really need to do this really quickly and they're willing to pay immigration $10,000 to get them a Visa approved in three months uh it requires a really big investment for the moment is 300,000 in real estate up to October after that it will be minimum 500 and of course you have other options there that are even more expensive so again not my favorite Visa as you all know and but I have to mention it because it's also a fast residency so I

had to include it with the pensioner VISA now these are other residency programs that have to do with either investment or or if you have a profession that qualifies and um let's talk a little bit about how fast you can get them as I mentioned before with a pensioner Visa you get it in six months and it's just one application these other residency visas require two applications and it takes you about three years to complete the whole process you can be living in Panama during that time if you want or you can fly back and

forth As You Wish uh but it is important know that it is two applications so basically you get approved for a provisional and that is for two years and at the end of the two years you apply again and then you get the permanent now Panamanian nationality or citizenship is something that I get a lot of questions about um it's not as easy to obtain as residency residency is really easy nationality is not it takes a long time you need to know Spanish you need to be living in Panama and you need to renounce your

existing citizenship so it's not something that everybody wishes to go through but there will be information in the brochure if that is something that interests you and of course you can check with me if you have any other questions um okay and we get to the friendly Nations Visa this is a residency Visa that was created in 2012 and it's for the benefit of 50 countries only Nationals of those 50 countries are allowed to come in and apply for residency and they get the possibility of obtaining a work permit which is something that you don't

normally get in Panama with most residency visas unlike the US where you get a green card it allows you to stay there and work in Panama your residency doesn't necessarily give you a work permit like the pensioner Visa will not give you a work permit this one does and if there is something that may be of interest to you then of course this would be the right choice the investment is lower than the crazy one I just told you about that is only for people who have more money than time and this one requires that

you invest either $200,000 in real estate or that you open a three-year fixed term deposit account in a bank in Panama with a minimum investment of $200,000 and by the way this is your money so uh you get the interest on it and at the end of the three years you get your money back or you can roll it up and keep it in the bank generating more interest whatever you decide to do with it and the third option is that you get a job offer from a company that's operating in Panama that will also

give you access to this residency visa and okay this is another option I sometimes mention in case there is somebody in the audience that uh isn't within the 50 uh countries that are benefiting from the friendly Nations Visa this one requires a little bit more it requires an investment of 300,000 in real estate or in a city the only benefit of this one in comparison to the friendly Nations is that this one allows you to do a mix as well so you could have $100,000 in the bank and 200 in real estate or 150 in

the bank and $1 150 in real estate and that would qualify you for this Visa the other one the friendly Nations is really really really strict if you buy property and it's $199,000 doesn't qualify you okay um and they don't they don't accept that you supplement it with a CD this one you could supplement it if necessary okay this is also a residency Visa that is available for those of you who do not qualify for the other residencies and basically it's to attract professionals who have a degree from your University um in a profession that

is not restricted or res reserved for panamanians uh unfortunately there a a wide range of professions all the liberal professions pretty much are reserved for panamanians that includes engineer and architecture all the medical professions and um law of course we wrote the law so uh lawyers kind kind practice here and accountants Etc so if this is something that interests you again judge Bas with me and I will give you the information and if I don't have it I will search it out for you okay this Visa I'm not going to spend much money talking about

it this was once a great option not so much now if anybody is particularly interested in it I can discuss it at our desk this one again is not of great interest it's only interested if you're really wanting to come and open a business that is going to be operating in Panama otherwise it's not necessary um now dependence who can be dependents on your residency application you can have your spouse as your dependent common law marriages are not recognized in Panama same-sex marriages are not recognized in Panama so in those cases you would each need

to apply separately um you can also the principal applicant of the Visa can bring his or her parents as dependence no in-laws some wisdom there and uh you can bring your children under the age of 25 and disabled relatives that are under your care um no matter what their age is uh they can also come with you as dependents so and working in Panama we discussed a little bit about this already and I just wanted to get to the end so I can have some question and answer session there we go hi hi ranala hi

um if for the friendly Nations Visa permit uh if you have a job offer does that have to be a full-time you know salaried job or could you get a part-time job and that would suffice well it really needs to be a full-time job a minimum salary of $1,000 and you do need to be it needs to be a formal employment you need to have an employment contract and an employment letter outlining the functions that you will be um you know working on and the minimum salary of $1,000 so if per month that's per month

yes so if you get a job that is going to be part-time and they're going to pay you $1,000 dollar then that may work uh I would just not put that necessarily in the contract that is only part-time but it needs to be uh sort of uh a a work contract that is limited to the time where you're going to have the work permit or an indefinite one okay about halfway down on your right here rala hey I think that it might be self-explanatory regarding residency permit that you have to visit once every two years

and given the fact that it takes up to six months this visit would not qualify as one of those visits I presume other words you couldn't apply right now for for Panama residency and count this as your trip and then two years from now you'd have to be here again no no the two years start counting from you're receiving the permanent residency during the application process we will need you here normally for two weeks to apply and then we will need you um and then we will need you um for another visit to come and

get your permanent resident card if it's the pensioner Visa or to get your provisional Visa if it's one of the friendly Nations and um so that would not start counting just yet once you get your permanent residency Visa then you start counting the two years okay and I always stress that although Panama doesn't require you to to come and stay for a specific period of time I do suggest that at least the weekend because I don't want you I've asked I've had questions asked of me whether you can do it on a transit to to

another country no not really you need to enter the country and ideally spend at least a night or two all the way back on your right renala hi ronalda I am I will be um not receiving a pin until two years from now uh so I was wondering if there are any possibilities for me at the age I'm at uh presently um I have my own income and everything to actually live move and live in Panama without meeting any of the other qualifications yes uh well if since it's only two years since you you will

start receiving your pension um you know there there are interest options that that you can use one of them is the digital normad Visa I don't like it it's really complicated it has a lot of paperwork and requirements and cost for nothing because it only gives you nine months with a possible extension of another nine months the easiest solution for an American or Canadian who are allowed to stay in Panama for six months as a tourist is to come here spend six months as a tourist leave for a month and come back again and that

will restart the clock so you can do that for a couple of years you're not going to have too many problems with that the only thing is that you can only drive for three months uh after you come into the country you can only drive for the first three months um with a foreign driver license but other than those restrictions that would be a good stop Gap until you can get your pension and apply for the pensioner visa on your left about halfway back renala qu question um do Social Security count as a pension one

two the spouse as derivative uh as the Der derivative of the political or the uh principal applicant if the spouse is getting a pension does the uh does the uh does the spouse whose derivative also apply for a pensioner's uh permit or is it how's that done okay thank you uh that's a great question by the way thank you um Social Security yes it's the quintessential pension that uh that we accept um so no problem it could be also VA retirement it could be teachers pension it could be whatever a municipal pension policeman a fire

department whatever um the the spouse of the of the pension of the person that is receiving the pension comes in on under the pensioner Visa if they apply at the same time so she or he will be receiving the pensioner Visa as an a permanent category at the end of uh of the six months after application now the only issue is that if the spouse is younger uh than 55 for women or 64 men they may not get the discounts in some cases okay because just because people look at at the date and they go

and you don't really add up to it yet and when they issue the pensioner Visa the principal says pensioner and then the dependent no longer says pensioner it just says basically dependent off okay right in the middle here renala about halfway back hi actually um my question is a follow-up to that question um that you almost addressed so if the uh pensioner is over 55 and the spouse is under 55 is it better to uh does that mean that the spouse uh would not apply would not qualify for those additional um benefits once they turn

55 and perhaps are better to wait let's say they're a year from turning 55 they will get all the they will get all the benefits once they turn 55 or 60 depending on the gender perfect thank you had a question over here by the way some vendors don't even look at that they just see The Residency and they just give you the if you look a little older a few gray hairs here and there they they'll give you the they'll give you the discounts anyway right here rala thank you um once one uh acquires permanent

residency under the pensionat program are they able then to apply for a passport uh there was a time when we were not sure that was going to be able to happen because the originally that was in the intention but for the last 10 years or so the uh policy of immigration has been that pensioners now receive the national ID card for residents which is called a celula and that is the path to citizenship so you could apply for Panamanian citizenship after 5 years of being permanent resident but remember that citizenship in Panama is not just

going over there and getting a passport it's a long process and you need to speak Spanish you need to be living in Panama and you need to renounce your uh you or say in a sworn statement to the president that you will be renouncing your citizenship to to acquire a passport one needs to be a citizen yes sir okay thank you dual s and I I heard a question over there dual citizenship is only available for those that receive it by birth in Panama meaning if your child uh of us parents is born in Panama

that child is Panamanian and US citizen here rala thank you for all your information uh you did mention veteran uh retirement what about veteran disability payments veteran disability payments do qualify for pensioner residency status uh ideally if they're over 70% sometimes the VA disability letter States the percentage and less than 70% I have never tried so you know we would be experimenting but anything above 70 would definitely be acceptable Justin back here Ronaldo what exactly the age for to qualify for a pensionado program okay for the pensioner residency Visa If you're receiving a pension age

is not a requirement I see so for example if you're uh retired from the military people normally retire from the military in their 40s uh that would qualify you because it's a lifetime pension that would qualify you for the pensioner Visa it's just going to be harder for you to get the discounts because people are going to look at you and say h you're not old enough but on your right Vana rea hi this is a a secondary a passport issue question if we're living here and have received the res as a resident we're living

here with residency and but not citizenship then we still travel under our existing passport that is correct okay yes and by the way if if you are stay living in Panama permanently and uh either you lose your passport or you need it you need to renew it the US here can help you with that so you don't need to travel back to the US for that thank [Music] you [Music]