At CLD Legal, we have a practice in Immigration Law for almost 20 years, and during this time, we have dealt with clients of all kinds. Those who seek to retire in our country. Those who are looking for a stable, safe country to settle their family. Those who come to establish a business. And people who work for multinational companies and need to obtain their visas to live and work in our country.

We have already mentioned it in other articles. Although it sounds trite, Panama has it all, warm weather throughout the year, beaches, mountains, good food, great internet, and air connection. Still, above all, it has stability, both political and economical. Panama is a proud member of a select group of Latin American countries (Chile, Mexico, Brazil, and Peru) that have Investment Grade.

The fact is that our country welcomes all foreigners who want to emigrate to it and lead an honest and hard-working life. From a legal point of view, there are different visa categories: non-resident, temporary resident, and permanent resident. Within these, there are also subcategories such as short-stay visas, those issued for particular policies, for economic reasons, demographic reasons, for labor reasons, among others.

The truth is that you must inform us in advance of the reason to emigrate, your age if you migrate alone, and if you do it with your family, how many members make it up, your budget, and the most important fact: your nationality. These data allow us to analyze your case and determine the type of Visa you can access if your budget is sufficient or not, and if your goals are attainable.

A clear example of informing us your reasons is the following:

If your ultimate interest is applying for a residence in Panama to obtain a tax residence, getting legal residence through a permanent resident visa will not be sufficient if you do not comply with another set of requirements. The most important of them, staying in the country for more than 183 days (consecutive or alternate).

Once established in our country, you can open businesses or invest in these or others in any other field, such as real estate. However, you must know that if there are any restrictions for foreigners, for example, in the case of business, foreigners, residents or not, cannot carry out retail trade. On the other hand, a foreigner, resident or not, cannot be the owner of a real estate that is located less than 10 miles from a border.

Certainly, when moving to a new country you, as a foreigner, will have many doubts. It is crucial to have experienced legal advisors so that if you are going to emigrate to Panama and want to obtain a tax residence, start a business or buy a property, you can count on CLD Legal to provide the necessary legal advice.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.