Panama immigration,
property & company
FAQs.

The routes most people choose between are Pensionado, for those with a pension payable for life; Friendly Nations, for nationals of designated countries with a qualifying economic or professional connection here; Qualified Investor; Self-Economic Solvency, for those qualifying on their own capital; Foreign Professional; Family or Dependent residency; and employment-linked routes, which run alongside a separate work authorisation. Panama has many further categories beyond these.

One point on wording: these are usually called “visas” online, but Panamanian law treats most of them as residence permits granted by the Servicio Nacional de Migración. Which one fits depends on your income, your nationality, your profession and who is coming with you. There is more detail on each route on our Immigration & Residency page.

We do not publish a figure. The immigration authority does not publish processing times, so any number you find online is an estimate rather than a rule.

What we can explain is what affects the timeline: the category, whether documents have to be obtained, apostilled or translated abroad, whether a foreign degree needs formal recognition, how complete the file is, and the authority’s workload. Much of it depends on the preparation stage, which is the part we can influence. Once we have reviewed your situation we can give you a realistic expectation for your case.

In practice, residency applications are normally presented through a Panamanian lawyer, and the authority’s published requirements are structured around a power of attorney granted to counsel.

Beyond that, these applications depend on documentary form as much as on eligibility. A file that is complete but assembled in the wrong form can still be returned, and documents may expire in the meantime. Whether representation is strictly required in your case is something we can confirm.

Most applications are built on a common core: a valid passport, a criminal background check, a health certificate, photographs, and evidence of your economic situation appropriate to the category. Each category adds its own requirements, such as pension documentation, a bank certification, an employment letter, or civil status certificates.

Form matters as much as content. Panama is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, so public documents from another Convention country are generally apostilled where they were issued; documents from outside the Convention go through consular legalisation. Documents not in Spanish may require translation in the form accepted by the relevant authority.

Because several documents have a limited validity period, the order in which you obtain them matters. We give you a document plan at the start, sequenced for your category.

Residency and permission to work are separate in Panama and involve separate authorities. Immigration status is granted by the Servicio Nacional de Migración; authorisation to work is handled through the labour authorities. Holding one does not give you the other.

The answer therefore depends on what you hold and what you propose to do. It is worth checking before you start working, since the consequences can affect both you and the employer.

Friendly Nations is the permit for nationals of countries Panama designates as maintaining friendly, professional and economic relations with the Republic. Two points are worth knowing.

First, your passport alone does not qualify you. The requirements are built around a qualifying economic or professional connection to Panama: employment here, an investment in Panamanian real estate, or a fixed-term bank deposit, each with its own conditions and a minimum set by the authority.

Second, this category is granted in stages. The published requirements provide for a provisional residence permit valid for two years, with permanent residence applied for separately afterwards. If you have read that Friendly Nations gives permanent residency from day one, that is not what the requirements say. The list of designated countries is set by decree and has changed before, so we check your nationality’s current status against the decree in force.

A permanent residence subcategory for applicants qualifying through an investment in Panama, introduced by executive decree in 2020. The qualifying routes have included real estate, securities through Panama’s stock exchange, and a fixed-term deposit with a local bank, with funds shown to have come from abroad and the investment held for a defined period.

We do not publish the investment amounts. They have been changed by executive decree more than once, and figures circulating online often reflect a superseded position. The current threshold and holding conditions should be confirmed against the decree in force before an investment is structured or funds are moved.

No. They are separate authorisations involving separate authorities, and neither includes the other automatically. Some residency categories are linked to employment, but the work authorisation is still its own process. If you intend to work in Panama, treat it as a second matter from the start.

Residency is your legal status. The cédula is Panama’s national identity document. For residents the document follows from the immigration status rather than creating it, and what is issued and at what point depends on the category and the individual case. People sometimes describe receiving the card as “getting residency”, which can cause confusion about what has actually been approved.

Generally yes, through Panama’s family and dependent provisions. The published requirements cover spouses, children under 18, children in a defined older age band who are still studying and economically dependent, dependent parents, and family members with a disability, of a Panamanian national or of a resident.

The sponsoring applicant has to show economic solvency covering the dependants, and most categories set an additional amount for each one. The evidence also has to establish the relationship and, where relevant, the dependency, often using documents issued under another legal system. These applications usually need the most preparation.

Naturalisation is a separate process with its own requirements and its own authority. Holding a residence permit does not convert into citizenship automatically, and no residency category is a citizenship programme.

We do not publish qualifying periods here, as they should be confirmed against the current official requirements. We have handled naturalisation matters for many years, so if it is your longer-term objective it is worth mentioning at the outset, since it can influence which residency route makes sense now.

Yes. Foreign buyers can generally acquire and hold registered title to property in Panama, and do so across much of the country.

The main limit is constitutional: foreign persons cannot acquire land within ten kilometres of Panama’s national borders. Other restrictions usually attach to the property rather than the buyer, such as a registered easement, a concession, an adjudication by the State, or a limitation entered against the title. A significant amount of Panamanian land is also not titled at all, but held under rights of possession.

So the answer is yes, subject to constitutional limits and to whatever the record shows about the specific property, which is why any purchase starts with a Public Registry search. See Real Estate.

Titled property is registered ownership, entered in the Registro Público, which records the owner, the boundaries and area, and anything registered against it. That is the strongest position a buyer can hold.

Rights of possession, or derechos posesorios, are recognised in practice but are not registered ownership. Converting them into registered title may involve additional administrative or judicial procedures, and whether that is viable depends on the particular property. Panama’s land administration authority, ANATI, has a central role in titling and regularisation.

Buying rights of possession can be the right decision, but it is important to understand exactly what is being transferred, and we advise thorough due diligence on any such purchase.

It can, but not automatically. Several residency categories can be qualified for through property, and each sets its own conditions on value, on how the property is owned, and on how long it must be held.

Ownership structure matters here. If the property is held through an entity rather than personally, whether it supports a given application depends on the requirements of that category. It is better to settle this before the purchase is structured. If you are considering both, ask us to look at them together.

A title search establishes what the Public Registry says about the property: the finca number, the registered owner, the description including boundaries and area, and anything registered against it such as mortgages, liens, easements or court measures.

Due diligence is the wider question of whether the record matches what you are being sold and whether the seller can actually sell. That includes the seller’s capacity, whether the registered description matches the property on the ground, whether the property is current with the tax authority, and whether anything registered against it would survive the sale. Existing leases are also relevant and should be considered.

We cannot publish figures that would be accurate for every transaction, but the categories are consistent: transfer-related tax obligations on the transfer itself; gain-related obligations that may apply to the seller; the property’s tax status, since it has to be shown to be paz y salvo, meaning applicable obligations are current, before a transfer can be recorded; notarial costs for the public deed; Registry fees, which vary with the value of the transaction; legal fees; and transaction-specific costs such as surveys, corrections to the record, releasing a mortgage, or translations.

Which side bears which depends on the transaction and on what is negotiated, and rates are set by law and change over time. We set out the position for your specific matter.

Panamanian entities may be used in property ownership structures, depending on your objectives and the relevant legal requirements. Whether it is the right approach depends on who you want appearing in the Registry as owner, how you expect to transfer the interest later, whether you are prepared for the obligations an entity carries each year, and whether a residency application is part of the plan.

An entity has continuing obligations, set out on our Corporate & Company Formation page. It is worth deciding deliberately rather than by default.

The same record work that protects a buyer helps a seller. Before a property goes under contract it is worth knowing what your own title says, since an old mortgage that was never formally cancelled or a boundary that does not match what was built will otherwise surface later in the process.

From there a sale runs through the promise-to-purchase agreement and the deed, clearing whatever needs clearing from the title, obtaining the clearances the transfer requires, and registration. We act for sellers as well as buyers, and where a seller is abroad a properly executed power of attorney may allow certain steps to be handled remotely.

Yes, for owners and for tenants, residential and commercial. The points worth settling in writing are usually the same: term and renewal, what happens to the deposit, who is responsible for what, how the lease ends, and what the parties can and cannot do to the property. Existing leases are also relevant when a property changes hands, which is why they form part of a proper title review.

Both are widely used and the choice depends on what the entity is for. A Sociedad Anónima is the corporation: ownership sits in shares and management sits with a board, and it is the structure international counterparties are most likely to recognise. A Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada is Panama’s limited liability company: ownership sits in participations rather than shares, and the members may also administer it themselves, which suits smaller ownership groups.

In practice the deciding questions are who will hold the interests, how ownership is expected to change hands, how the entity will be viewed by banks and counterparties, and how much internal formality you want. Neither is better in the abstract.

Three others come up regularly. A sociedad civil is used by professionals and for activities that are not acts of commerce, and depending on the activity it may be treated differently from commercial companies for certain operating and annual obligations. A sociedad de emprendimiento is a simplified vehicle for small ventures, with eligibility conditions that do not apply to the other structures. A fundación de interés privado, or private interest foundation, is used mainly for holding and succession purposes rather than trading.

Panamanian law provides for further entity types as well. Which fits depends on what the entity will do, who controls it, and what you expect of it over time.

Forming an entity and being allowed to trade are two different steps. The Aviso de Operación, or operating notice, is the general framework for commercial activity in Panama. It is filed through the government’s Panamá Emprende system and is linked to the entity’s taxpayer registration.

Some activities are subject to additional sector-specific authorisations or regulatory requirements, which may need to be satisfied before or alongside the operating notice. Others fall outside the framework altogether. We handle operating notices as part of setting a business up and will tell you at the outset whether your activity needs something else first.

A Panamanian entity carries continuing obligations, including an annual government fee and, depending on the entity, record-keeping requirements.

Falling behind has practical consequences. An entity that is not in good standing can find that corporate acts cannot be registered for it and that certifications about it cannot be issued, so a sale, a change of directors or a financing may have to wait until the position is corrected.

Corporate administration can include annual obligations, keeping records current, documenting and registering corporate changes, good-standing matters, and handling applicable government and tax payments for clients as part of corporate administration. Professional fees for this work depend on what the entity needs each year.

The first consequence is usually practical: corporate acts cannot be registered and certifications cannot be issued, so transactions stall.

Where obligations go unmet for long enough, an entity’s corporate rights can be suspended in the Public Registry, and a suspended entity is significantly limited in what it can do. Suspension is a legal status with real consequences and time limits attached. If you have a Panamanian entity you have not looked at in some years, a review is the sensible first step: we can identify the outstanding issues and advise on what is required to bring its records and obligations up to date.

Panamanian entities are required to have a resident agent, and the role carries obligations under Panamanian law rather than being simply a local address. The requirements differ between entity types, so who may act and what the role involves should be confirmed for the specific structure.

An entity left without a designated resident agent can find its corporate position affected. If you are acquiring an existing Panamanian entity or changing agents, it is worth checking the position early.

No. Forming a company does not give you residency, does not authorise you or anyone else to work in Panama, does not open a bank account, and does not by itself determine how you or the entity are taxed. Each is a separate question. An entity can form part of a plan that includes a residency application, but it is not a substitute for one. See Immigration & Residency.

Submit a Request a Consultation inquiry, or contact the firm through the published phone or WhatsApp channels. We will review the inquiry and advise the appropriate next step. Meetings may be held virtually or in person at our office at PH Global Plaza on Calle 50.

Yes. We assist clients who are outside Panama as well as clients who are already here. Document review, guidance on authenticating documents abroad, drafting, filing and follow-up can be handled remotely, and we work in English and Spanish. Some steps require presence in Panama, and which ones depends on your matter; we tell you at the outset so you can plan around them.

Many preparation and coordination steps can be handled before arrival, while some legal or government steps may require presence in Panama depending on the matter. Where you cannot attend, a properly executed power of attorney may allow certain steps to be handled while you are abroad, and a document executed abroad has to be put into a form Panama accepts, which for most countries means apostille. We will tell you which steps require you, and why, at the start.

Spanish and English. Consultations, documents and correspondence can be handled in either language.

We use the contact information provided for the matter, ordinarily WhatsApp and email, to communicate material developments and next steps. The exact communication process depends on the matter and the engagement.

We do not publish a price list. Professional fees depend on the service and the scope of the matter. Fees, and any relevant third-party or government costs, are discussed as part of the engagement process after we have reviewed your inquiry.

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