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Program profile · Edition 1 research

Panama - Qualified Investor

Permanent residency from day one, 30 business days advertised on the government's own page, a 3.3% government cost, and a six-year rule record where every amendment has softened rather than tightened. It also carries a marketed expiry date that does not exist in the decree: the widely repeated claim that the USD 300,000 threshold "expires October 2026 and rises to 500,000" is checked below against the primary text. Every claim below carries its source, access date and status.

The sunset myth: the decree sets no expiry date

The claim in wide circulation across agency and law-firm marketing is specific: the USD 300,000 real estate threshold "expires 15 October 2026" and reverts to USD 500,000. Checked against the current governing text, that claim does not hold. Decree 193 of 15 October 2024 (Gaceta Oficial No. 30140-B) rewrote Article 3 of Decree 722 and sets the real estate minimum at B/.300,000 with no sunset clause anywhere in the decree - the full text was OCR-checked and contains zero occurrences of "2026." Confirmed (primary) - Gaceta Oficial Digital No. 30140-B, 15 October 2024, accessed 2026-07-15. Quote: "invierta la suma minima desde trescientos mil balboas (B/. 300,000.00), en la compra de un bien inmueble en la Republica de Panama, el cual debera estar libre de gravamenes."

A law-firm briefing corroborates the reading directly: "The new decree extends the validity of the reduced amount indefinitely until further notice." Confirmed - Kraemer & Kraemer, revised April 2026, accessed 2026-07-15.

The conflict is not smoothed over here: many 2025-26 agency and law pages still market a hard 15 October 2026 deadline reverting to USD 500,000. One documented source of this folklore is the Panamanian government's own stale page - the Ministry of Commerce and Industries' decreto-ejecutivo-722 program page still carries pre-Decree-193 text describing the USD 300,000 as "reduced ... under Decree 109, valid through October 15, 2024," two amendments out of date. Reported source of the error - mici.gob.pa/decreto-ejecutivo-722, accessed 2026-07-17. That page is not cited here for anything except the 30-business-day processing line below.

The real structural basis for a future increase is not a written sunset but a standing statutory review clause: Decreto Ley 3 de 2008, Article 20, recited within Decree 193, requires that "el Organo Ejecutivo procedera a revisar cada dos anos la reglamentacion existente con relacion a los montos minimos de inversion" - the Executive must review the minimum investment amounts every two years. Confirmed - same Gaceta PDF as above, accessed 2026-07-15. The next natural review point falls around October 2026. Whether that review raises the amount is Unresolved: no gazette notice, bill or ministerial statement of a pending increase had been found as of 2026-07-17. The instability here is reputational, not legal - persistent third-party misreporting of a fixed 2026 sunset, fed in part by the government's own outdated page - while the statutory two-year review is the genuine risk to watch.

The threshold

The primary route is USD 300,000 (B/.300,000) in equity from foreign-source funds, in property free of liens; if the property costs more, the excess may be financed with a local mortgage. Confirmed - Decree 193, Article 2, accessed 2026-07-15. Quote: "podra financiar el remanente a traves de un prestamo hipotecario con un banco local." Off-plan purchases are permitted at the same USD 300,000 through a promise-of-sale contract, structured either as a licensed bank/fiduciary trust deposit or as 100% payment to the developer backed by a bank completion guarantee that must be renewed annually until title registers. Confirmed - Decree 193, Article 2, sections 2.1-2.2, accessed 2026-07-15.

Two alternative routes exist for applicants who prefer not to hold property: securities via a licensed brokerage on the Panama exchange at USD 500,000 (five-year hold), and a fixed-term bank deposit at USD 750,000 (five-year term, lien-free). Confirmed - Decree 193, accessed 2026-07-15. Funds must originate abroad and may be held personally or through a legal entity where the applicant is the ultimate beneficial owner; co-ownership counts when it is between spouse and dependants under the 2024 amendment (new Article 3A). Confirmed (same source).

What it costs

Government fees for the main applicant total USD 10,000: USD 5,000 to the National Treasury plus USD 5,000 to the National Migration Service. Confirmed - Ministry of Commerce and Industries requirements sheet, accessed 2026-07-15. Quote: "Pago al Tesoro Nacional por US$ 5,000.00 ... Pago al Servicio Nacional de Migracion por US$ 5,000.00." Each dependant adds USD 2,000 (USD 1,000 to each agency). Confirmed (same sheet). Practitioners report that dependants under 12 are exempt from the Migration Service's USD 1,000 portion, putting their all-in figure at roughly USD 1,300 versus USD 2,300 for older dependants including card fees Reported - Kraemer & Kraemer, accessed 2026-07-17 - but the official requirements sheet itself draws no age distinction, so the flat USD 2,000 is kept here as the primary-sourced figure. At the USD 300,000 threshold, government fees alone represent 3.3% of the investment, before transfer taxes and legal costs.

Property transfer costs run separately: Panama levies a 2% real estate transfer tax on the seller side plus registration and notary fees, with typical all-in transaction costs in the mid-single digits as a percentage of price. Reported - law-firm and market guides only; no primary tax text was fetched this pass. A Panamanian lawyer and a notarized power of attorney are mandatory for the filing; the requirement itself is Confirmed (requirements sheet, "Poder otorgado por el interesado (notariado)"), while typical legal fees of USD 3,000-6,000 are Reported from briefings.

Time to permit

The government's own program page advertises 30 business days for approval - "Aprobacion en 30 dias habiles." Confirmed - mici.gob.pa/decreto-ejecutivo-722, accessed 2026-07-15. That is the fastest advertised route to full permanent residency in this Index's scored set. Filing is reportedly possible under a special power of attorney without the applicant present in Panama Reported, consistent with the notarized POA requirement above. A practitioner page reports a practical range of "between 30 and 45 business days from the day the application is submitted" alongside the official figure. Reported - Kraemer & Kraemer, accessed 2026-07-17.

On actual-vs-advertised throughput: earlier National Migration Service statistics citing 107 approvals in 2024 and 33 in 2025 are Stale/partial - those figures count permit grants rather than investment certifications and materially undercount current volume. Current figures from the Ministry of Commerce and Industries, reported via press, put certificates issued at 268 for July 2025-June 2026 (up 39% on the 193 issued the prior year), USD 113.6 million invested, and 613 cumulative approvals through December 2025 totaling USD 309.8 million, 87.3% of them real estate. Reported - via press coverage, accessed 2026-07-17. No credible reports of systematic delays were found.

Family scope

Spouse and children can be included as dependants; children aged 18 to 25 must prove full-time student status and single status. Confirmed - requirements sheet, accessed 2026-07-15. Quote: "Los hijos mayores de 18 anos, pero menores de 25 anos de edad debe aportar: Certificado de centro de estudios ... Declaracion jurada de solteria." Dependants file jointly with the principal and receive the same permanent residency condition; per-dependant fees are as above. Confirmed (same sheet). Parents are not listed as eligible dependants on the requirements sheet. Confirmed by absence (accessed 2026-07-15). New under the 2024 amendment: spouse and dependants may be co-owners of the qualifying investment and it still counts toward the threshold. Confirmed - Decree 193, Article 3A, accessed 2026-07-15.

Presence requirement

There is no minimum annual stay under the Qualified Investor route. The only presence rule is the general one applied to all Panamanian permanent residents: residency may be cancelled for absence from Panama exceeding two years, unless justified and authorized by the Director of the National Migration Service. Confirmed (primary statute) - Decreto Ley No. 3 de 22 Feb 2008, Article 31(3), accessed 2026-07-15. Quote: "En el caso de residentes permanentes, ausentarse del territorio nacional por mas de dos anos, salvo que tal ausencia sea justificada y autorizada por el Director del Servicio Nacional de Migracion." A renewal-trap variant applies after cancellation: rehabilitation is reportedly possible if the absence was over two but under six years, with evidence and fees; beyond six years the status is gone. Reported - IRB Canada research response via ecoi.net, and Panama law-firm briefings, accessed 2026-07-15. The practical rule of thumb is one entry every two years to keep the status alive.

Term and permanence

The permit is permanent residency from day one - there is no temporary stage and no renewal cycle for the status itself; only the underlying ID card renews. Confirmed - program name and decree structure, accessed 2026-07-15. The investment must be held a minimum of five years: the securities and deposit routes carry explicit five-year terms in Decree 193, and the government program page states the investment must be maintained "por un minimo de 5 anos." Confirmed - propanama.gob.pa, accessed 2026-07-15. If an off-plan deal collapses and is not substituted, the permit is cancelled - Decree 193: "acarreara la cancelacion del permiso otorgado." Naturalization eligibility after five years of residency (three years with a Panamanian spouse or children) follows the standard nationality rule. Reported - standard constitutional rule, not re-verified against primary text this pass.

Rule stability: 2020-2026, an all-softening record

Three decree amendments in six years, all issued on the same anniversary date (15 October), and all softening or extending rather than tightening: the route was created in 2020 with a two-year USD 300,000 window; that window was extended in 2022; and it was made open-ended in 2024, with added consumer protections (completion guarantees) and flexibility (co-ownership, local-mortgage top-up, a conversion path for pre-2020 applicants). Confirmed - all three decrees identified in the Gaceta chain, accessed 2026-07-15.

One further data point, not a change to the investment terms: Law 493 of 28 October 2025 (Gaceta Oficial, 29 October 2025) authorizes a Special Passport for Qualified Investor permanent residents and their dependants (spouse, minor or dependent children). It changes no investment amounts, permanence terms or deadlines; its validity tracks the immigration permit, it does not replace the national passport, and it confers no nationality. Implementing regulations were due within six months of promulgation, around April 2026. Confirmed - Morgan & Morgan, CLD Legal, Dentons (7 November 2025) and a National Assembly announcement, all accessed 2026-07-17. One numbering footnote: a Galindo Arias & Lopez briefing headlines the law "Ley 492 de 2025," while Morgan & Morgan, CLD Legal and Dentons consistently cite 493; this profile uses Law 493 with the discrepancy noted, and the Gaceta text itself was not fetched to resolve it. Numbering discrepancy noted

For context (not scored here): since Executive Decree 197 of 7 May 2021, the Friendly Nations Visa no longer grants immediate permanent residency - it now gives two-year temporary residency (property option USD 200,000, or local employment/deposit), with permanent residency available only on a second application, and only for citizens of the listed countries. Reported - Kraemer & Kraemer and IMI Daily, accessed 2026-07-15. That downgrade is what makes Qualified Investor the only immediate-permanent-residency property route currently open in Panama, and it strengthens the reading that every rule change in this window, taken as a set, moved toward the Qualified Investor track rather than against it.

Nationality access

No nationality restriction appears in the decree: the Qualified Investor route is open to applicants of any nationality, unlike the Friendly Nations Visa, which is limited to citizens of roughly 50 listed countries. Confirmed by absence in the decree text; the comparative openness point is Reported via Kraemer and IMI Daily briefings, accessed 2026-07-15. Nationals on Panama's restricted or authorized-visa entry lists may face additional consular steps to enter the country, but no published bar to this residency permit was found. Reported - no primary list re-verified this pass. Source-of-funds must be foreign and bank-documented (Confirmed, requirements sheet); applicants from sanctioned countries should expect standard correspondent-banking friction, though no Panama-specific ban was found. As noted above, Law 493 of 2025 layers on a mobility sweetener - a Special Passport for Qualified Investor permanent residents and dependants that tracks the permit's validity, does not replace the national passport, and confers no nationality. Confirmed - accessed 2026-07-17.