Your Plan B / Countries / Central America and the Caribbean
Moving to Panama: prepare a home your family can use
Prepare Panama residency, a suitable home, school and healthcare around your family. Pensionado, Friendly Nations, banking, property and ongoing support. EXOBASIS organises the agreed work, from documents and housing search to a prepared arrival.
Decide what you need Panama to do
For a UK family, Panama may be a new long-term home. For a household living in the UAE, it may provide an option beyond the country where work and residence are currently tied together. A pensioner may qualify through lifetime income, while an entrepreneur may want a family base separate from the location of a company or bank.
- A second baseA home for regular stays, with suitable rights, reliable access and care while you are away.
- A new place to liveBring housing, school, healthcare and income together into a workable family routine.
- A prepared alternativeArrange travel, accommodation and the necessary steps early enough to turn an idea into a usable plan.
What matters for your decision
Start with the passports and existing rights of everyone involved. The United Kingdom is on the Friendly Nations nationality list used for the route described here. UAE residence by itself does not establish that nationality qualification. A partner or child may hold another passport and need a dependent route or a separate basis of their own.
We look at the work you actually need: a family home, a reserve location, a bank connection or company administration. These can be combined, but they need not share one address or even one country. The family’s school and care requirements should lead the housing decision; the bank and business arrangements can follow their own practical purpose.
Panama’s canal and transit role also belongs in the country decision. A family or crisis base makes sense where your arrival and essential local care can be prepared for the disruptions relevant to your plan. A useful financial or business arrangement is a separate benefit, not a reason to settle the family somewhere that cannot meet those needs.
You may be leaving the UK, planning beyond a UAE residence visa or looking for somewhere your family can go if war or political pressure narrows your options. A Panama address is only the start. We bring the right of each family member, a suitable home, usable funds and essential care into one practical preparation.
Prepare the journey as well as the destination
Fear of war can make a distant base attractive. Its value lies in being able to use it: valid travel documents, an available route, money for the journey and someone ready to receive your family. Agree what would trigger departure, who might travel first and how children or a relative needing assistance would follow.
Travel and local preparedness in detail
Panama’s canal and international transit role link it to wider transport and supply systems. Your own preparation still depends on a specific flight, transit permission and the journey from the airport to the home. FCDO advice describes protests and roadblocks that can interrupt access to airports and the Paso Canoas border crossing. Heavy traffic, rural road conditions and landslides or flash flooding after heavy rain can affect the last part of a journey.
East of the Punta Carreto - Yaviza - Punta Piña line, the FCDO identifies violent crime and kidnapping risks and advises visits only with an organised group known to the security authorities. We assess the location you intend to use, its access roads and essential services rather than treating the whole country as one safety category.
For an agreed arrival task, EXOBASIS organises the accommodation, onward transport, handover and first necessary appointments. Keep a return option alongside it: the right to re-enter your previous country, documents that remain usable and arrangements for anyone staying behind. The preparation for leaving the UK differs from leaving the UAE. A UAE household should establish what happens to each person’s residence, work, health cover and return position when the existing basis changes. If a possible UAE travel restriction affects a family member, clarify the actual case and responsible authority before setting the departure sequence.
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Build the family plan around the people moving
A school-age child, a working partner and a parent needing daily care create different requirements. Decide who is moving permanently, who may join later and whose support must continue where they are now. That gives the housing search and the application work a clear purpose.
Pensionado and Friendly Nations apply different dependent and maintenance rules. Establish the relationship evidence and financial support for each person, including the study conditions that can matter for adult children. If a partner intends to work in Panama, include their own work authorisation in the plan before the household relies on that income.
A reconnaissance visit is most useful when it resembles ordinary life. Arrange a school conversation, travel the proposed morning route and discuss the treatment or support that must continue. Spanish is important for administration, contracts and daily tasks. We organise the agreed language assistance and connect the useful findings from the visit to the eventual move.
Test the family plan beyond an ordinary day: if a local connection is interrupted, who can still reach the children or provide essential care? A home that depends on an irreplaceable journey for treatment or daily support may be the wrong address. Reachable backup care and an alternative for the school run belong in the decision before you commit to the move.
Panama · AI illustration
Keep a part-time base usable between visits
If you divide your time between Panama and another home, the permit and the property both need attention while you are away. Friendly Nations begins with a two-year provisional stage on the route described below. Permanent residence is a subsequent application, so allow for the evidence and work that follow the first approval.
For permanent residents, more than two years outside Panama can be a ground for cancellation. A justified absence approved by the migration director has its own treatment. Before spending a long period abroad, check the terms of your actual status and arrange any required approval.
Resolution 17405/2019 sets out restoration for an absence of more than two and up to six years, with an application within 30 working days after entry. Beyond six years it calls for a new migration procedure. The Italian treaty route and certain temporary regularisation cases are treated separately. The restoration file includes the permanent decision or SNM card, passport and registration pages, an authenticated Electoral Tribunal card, a notarised explanation of the absence and legal representation. Establish permission to enter before relying on a procedure that takes place after arrival.
The home needs a separate plan: keys, inspections, bills, authorised repairs and readiness for the next stay. Where someone is to act for you, their authority must be accepted by the organisation receiving it. We coordinate the agreed local tasks and return dates. Work performed during a stay is also assessed by its actual location and the activity you intend to carry out.
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Panama residency: choose the route that fits your household
Pensionado for a qualifying lifetime pension
The Pensionado route requires a pension granted for life of at least B/.1,000 a month. The SNM sheet adds B/.250 a month for each dependent and allows spouses to combine their pensions. It also describes a reduced pension threshold of B/.750 where the applicant personally owns property worth more than B/.100,000.
Requirements and procedures in detail
The principal applicant’s residence permit is indefinite and requires no renewal. Dependent children who evidence full-time education receive temporary status until they turn 25, without an ordinary entitlement to permanent residence or Pensionado status. The SNM sheet expressly excepts dependent children with a proven severe disability from these limits. The application must substantiate the disability for that exception to be considered. For a retired couple supporting an adult child, those distinctions change the application evidence and the later tasks.
A privately paid pension also requires a letter from the overseas fund administrator confirming that it manages funds for the company or applicant, certification of the existence and continuing validity of the company providing the pension and administering the fund, and a payment receipt or bank statement. Gather these alongside the personal and family records, then arrange the required legalisation and translation through the document sequence described below.
Friendly Nations through the documented investment route
The qualifying passport is the starting point, followed by the economic link. The property route described in Decreto 226 requires at least B/.200,000 in real estate. It recognises personal ownership or the evidenced beneficial interest in the holding company or private foundation and permits local bank financing.
Requirements and procedures in detail
The alternative documented here is an unencumbered fixed-term deposit of at least B/.200,000, held for at least three years with a general-licence bank. The first application is for two years of provisional residence, PPT-PE. The permanent PPP-PE application follows separately. Keep the qualifying arrangement and evidence ready for that next stage.
Dependants bring relationship evidence and a responsibility letter. Adult children under 25 also evidence full-time study and unmarried status. The SNM solvency list refers to a tax return and Paz y Salvo showing at least B/.1,000 monthly plus B/.100 per dependant, or its specified employment evidence with social-security and work-permit documents. These are Friendly Nations family requirements; the Pensionado maintenance amounts are different.
Employment has its own authorisation
Prepare a MITRADEL application when the planned activity requires the investor work permit covered by Articles 75 to 77 of Decreto 6/2023. Its initial term is two years. Renewals are for three years, with a maximum of three renewals. Submit a renewal at least 60 calendar days before expiry; the evidence includes the specified tax return with Paz y Salvo or nine social-security contributions. Reserved professions remain outside this permission.
A residence investment and a dependent residence status do not themselves provide general permission to work. We connect the proposed activity, the person carrying it out and the required application rather than relying on the residence label alone.
Three ways to use a Panama base
Panama: the rights, evidence and preparation behind each intended use
Open the use that fits your plans. Each option brings together the legal requirements, your documents and the work to commission.
Intended use: A full-time family home
- Residence route and follow-through
- First establish whether each family member already holds valid residence suitable for the move. Where a new application is needed, the options include Pensionado where lifetime pension conditions fit, or the qualifying Friendly Nations economic route. Friendly Nations moves from a two-year provisional stage to a separate permanent application; family members need their own correct status.
- Evidence, presence and limits
- Record each existing permit, its family relationship basis, validity and conditions for keeping it; identify the evidence still needed for an application. Evidence the pension or investment, maintenance and relationships. Adult-child study conditions and a working partner’s authorisation have separate consequences. Choose the home around admission to school and continuity of treatment.
- Work EXOBASIS can undertake
- Maintain rights already held or prepare the application still required. Organise family records, professional representation and personal appointments; connect a suitable property, school, care and usable payments to the move date.
Intended use: Split or mobile living
- Residence route and follow-through
- A visit, provisional permit and permanent residence serve different purposes. For each traveller, distinguish valid status already held from a new or follow-on application needed for the intended pattern of stays. The status actually granted governs the stay; employment follows the applicable work-permit procedure.
- Evidence, presence and limits
- Keep evidence of each person’s existing permission and any dependent relationship, with the conditions for retaining that status. Schedule travel around validity, the next application and absence conditions. The two-year PPT-PE term is a permit stage, not a transferable rule for time abroad. Assess where work takes place and the resulting tax duties.
- Work EXOBASIS can undertake
- Separate work to preserve current rights from any new or follow-on application. Maintain documents and return dates, arrange accepted representation and prepare the property, internet and local support between stays.
Intended use: A prepared reserve or crisis base
- Residence route and follow-through
- A reconnaissance visit and accommodation establish practical readiness. For extended use, check whether each person already has valid residence that serves that purpose. If not, prepare the required application, potentially through qualifying Pensionado or Friendly Nations arrangements.
- Evidence, presence and limits
- Keep each person’s entry position, granted permit and return records usable. Document the dependent relationship, validity and retention conditions for family joining later too; obtain missing application evidence before the base is needed. Resolve long absences for permanent status in advance. Restoration under Resolution 17405 is a later procedure, not promised entry during a crisis.
- Work EXOBASIS can undertake
- Preserve existing rights while the base is on standby, or organise the residence application still needed. Bring residence preparation together with available accommodation, funds, handover and confirmed essential care; maintain deadlines and readiness while the base is unused.
Choose the location, then secure the right home
Boquete/Chiriquí and the capital area answer different needs
For a home around Boquete, the Academia Internacional campus at El Francés, Alto Boquete is a concrete school reference. Hospital Chiriquí is in David. A household considering the highlands should therefore assess the actual school run and the journey to treatment in David against each property under consideration.
The capital area offers a different combination to investigate, including the International School of Panama and care at Hospital Punta Pacífica. The hospital is at Boulevard Pacífica and Vía Punta Darién in Ciudad de Panamá. We compare addresses through the journeys you would make, traffic, housing costs and the environment your family needs. The reconnaissance work brings viewings, school discussions and medical coordination together.
Include interrupted access in each property comparison. Around Boquete, the question is how essential treatment would continue if a roadblock or heavy rain prevented travel to David. Where no suitable, reachable alternative can be arranged with the medical providers, living closer to the required hospital carries more weight. Assess a capital-area address on the same basis: access to the actual school and treatment when journeys are disrupted, rather than assuming the city is always the better answer.
Panama · AI illustration
Rent first with a clear contract and handover
Initial furnished accommodation gives you room to test the area before committing to a longer tenancy. Panamá Digital describes MIVIOT registration for the Type B residential lease above B/.150 monthly rent. The checklist includes identity or a foreign tenant’s passport, current title or registry evidence and a notarised power where a manager acts for the owner. Companies have their own representation and registration documents; the list also calls for bank permission for mortgaged property.
The parties sign the contract and its annex. The published procedure generally calls for one month’s rent as the deposit, with placement and return handled through the MIVIOT process. We confirm the current transaction channel for your agreement before payment. The lease should settle duration, renewal, termination, utilities, repairs and the intended use; the handover records condition and inventory. For a part-time base, it also needs a workable arrangement for authorised access during your absence.
Buying: identify the right before agreeing the price release
For registered property, independent examination starts with the registered owner, the finca, authority to sell and the recorded burdens. A mortgage, registered promise of sale or usufruct can change what the buyer receives. Burdens are discharged or expressly assumed as agreed; taking over a mortgage requires the creditor’s consent under the registry manual.
Property rules and preparation in detail
A derecho posesorio is a possession right rather than registered ownership. A concession is another form of use right with its own conditions. Coastal and island offers should be classified accordingly before they enter your housing plan. Boundaries, access, services, building condition and permitted residential or rental use also need to support the intended purchase.
Article 291 of the constitution restricts foreign people and Panamanian companies with wholly or partly foreign capital from acquiring land within ten kilometres of the borders. Island territory has separate development and security conditions. In ANATI’s specific coastal and island allocation procedure based on possession rights, foreign applicants must have permanent residence and provide the required plan, location and evidence of possession or occupation for more than five years. Where possession has been transferred, the acquisition and qualifying previous possession must also be evidenced. That condition belongs to this allocation procedure, rather than every purchase of an already registered apartment.
The Distrito de Panamá zoning map is an orientation tool. The municipality directs applicants to its planning directorate for an official zoning certificate. A property in Boquete or another district requires the relevant local authority instead. The legal title and the planned use must both fit the home you intend to establish.
Coordinate the contract, funds and registration
The notarised deed identifies the parties, property and price. Agree how price release, discharge of burdens and outstanding documents fit together before money moves. DGI assigns sale declarations 106 and 107 to the seller, with the required tax payment before registration of the sale deed. For declaration 107, it places declaration and payment in the same calendar month. Seller records and payment evidence therefore form part of the closing preparation. Registration in the Registro Público completes the legal delivery step.
Your budget separates the purchase price from agreed transaction costs: independent legal and title work, notary and registry, surveys, building inspection and translations. Running costs and supervision continue afterwards. EXOBASIS carries out the agreed search, organises viewings and independent specialist examination, then coordinates the contract, closing and handover around your decisions.
Sources for this section (10)
Academia Internacional: Boquete campus
Hospital Chiriquí: David location
Pacífica Salud: hospital location and admission
Panamá Digital: Type B residential tenancy
Constitution, Article 291: border land and island territory
ANATI: allocation from possession rights under Ley 80
ANATI: separate concession application
Distrito de Panamá: zoning information and certification
School, medical care and the family’s next journey
Turn a school preference into an admission plan
The International School of Panama requires a non-refundable USD250 application fee, the previous three school-report years, a birth certificate, recommendations and any relevant learning-support assessments. Age- and language-related tests or interviews inform the Enrollment Committee’s decision. Once an offer is made, the stated payment and contract deadline is ten calendar days.
School, health and family in detail
ISP’s school year runs from August to June. From PK4, the published normal day is 8:00 to 14:50, with an earlier Friday finish. Parents contract directly with transport providers. From Grade 2, ISP requires MEDUCA validation within six months and records legalised before that process. A move from a UK or UAE school should be timed around the child’s actual year, records and admission, rather than an assumed equivalence.
Academia Internacional Boquete describes bilingual education from Prekínder through Media with a science qualification. At El Francés/Alto Boquete, pupils should arrive at 7:30 for a 7:45 start. Preschool ends at noon; primary and secondary finish at 14:30. Agree the correct class, language and support needs, fees and admission with that school. We organise the records and conversations and connect the housing decision to the confirmed school plan.
Prepare to move abroad with children and family covers the wider connection between schooling, care, travel and the rights of family members.
Prepare permission for a child’s departure
Article 40 distinguishes Panamanian minors and foreign resident minors travelling with both parents, one parent, or a third party or alone. With one parent, the other parent’s notarised consent is generally required; the relevant court authorisation or death certificate addresses the other specified circumstances. Travel with a third party or alone requires the corresponding evidenced consent of both parents. SNM lists the original and copy of the required permission and the birth certificate. Consent made abroad needs the applicable legalisation or apostille and, where necessary, an authorised Spanish translation.
Foreign non-resident minors are expressly excepted from this Panamanian provision. Separately, prepare the documents required by custody decisions, the origin and transit countries and the carrier for the actual journey. This matters both for a planned return and for a child who may travel later with another adult. For a family leaving the UAE, prepare the consent and custody requirements for that departure separately from the child’s later journey out of Panama.
Match the treatment pathway to the payment pathway
For planned admission to Hospital Punta Pacífica, the hospital calls for the doctor’s admission order and diagnosis, identity or passport and the required insurance authorisations. Pre-admission brings the service and funding arrangements together. Emergency admission operates around the clock; planned admission has its own hours.
School, health and family in detail
Hospital Chiriquí in David likewise requires identity, a medical admission order and admission records, together with financial responsibility and a deposit determined by admission type. Confirm the treatment and payment arrangement with the hospital and insurer. A family living around Boquete must include transport to David in that preparation.
Agree with the treating provider where necessary treatment could continue if that journey were interrupted, how records and medicines would reach the receiving team, and which alternative transport could be used. Connect that plan to insurance authorisation and funds accessible for a required deposit. If a workable alternative cannot be arranged from the proposed home, bring the accommodation closer to the care instead.
Use Health cover and care abroad to connect the insurer, receiving provider and service the person needs. Existing UK or UAE cover should be checked against that actual treatment and residence situation.
Arrange care beyond the first appointment
For a relative needing regular support, organise the transfer of medical records, medication, equipment and travel requirements with the responsible professionals. Agree who will provide each daily task, when support begins, its hours and the replacement arrangement if a carer is unavailable. If the carer cannot reach the home, the substitute must be able to get there, have the necessary authority and records, and be paid through an agreed usable route; a contact number alone will not cover daily care. The home must support that care. If the relative stays behind initially, the work instead connects continuing local support to you abroad.
Make income, banking and payments work together
Build the budget around the home you intend to use: rent or property running costs, school, treatment, insurance, transport and ordinary spending. Fund the application work, deposit, purchase and setup separately. Keep accessible money for an additional journey or unexpected treatment while a larger sum is committed to a property transaction.
Before changing residence, establish whether your current bank will continue serving you at a Panama address and which records it needs. For a UAE-based household, coordinate the banking arrangement with visa changes and expected final-salary payments as separate tasks, so the money needed for departure and arrival remains usable.
Banco General requirements depend on the product
For new foreign personal savings customers, Banco General requests a valid passport or cédula E. Income evidence is required with either form of identification. Applicants without cédula E must also demonstrate a connection to Panama. Its own income declaration is tied to the published balance limit below USD5,000. Opening an additional account digitally requires an existing active savings or current account.
Work, income and payments in detail
The business savings account calls for company documentation including a board resolution and income evidence, with the relevant people separately identified. Visa Débito Business requires a linked savings or current account. The new-customer card list additionally includes incorporation documents and amendments and commercial bank references. Further information and ongoing updates follow the selected product and banking agreement.
SBP Acuerdo 1-2026 has been effective since 23 July 2026. It distinguishes natural and legal persons, tax identification, source of funds, transaction profile and beneficial ownership. Prepare the real account holder, residence, earnings and intended transfers as one coherent record.
Connect the accepted account to your actual bills
We agree the required route with the institution: currency, recipient, transfer method, card and person authorised to approve. Banco General international transfers depend on the configured online access and token. After onboarding, we organise the agreed functional check and connect rent, school fees, a hospital deposit and everyday spending to the payment methods available to you.
Concern about banking restrictions or capital controls calls for lawful transfer preparation: evidence the available money, establish the permitted transfer and set up the receiving payment route while it is usable. If a phone is lost or a number stops working, the bank’s recovery process and a lawful alternative payment route need to be ready. A family or business representative needs accepted authority as well as their own permitted access. When an account is restricted, resolving the restriction and paying lawfully from funds that remain accessible are separate tasks.
Locate the work before assessing the tax position
The DGI describes Panamanian-source income through activities within the territory, independently of the recipient’s nationality, domicile or residence. Work done from Panama therefore needs assessment on its facts; a foreign customer or bank account is insufficient to establish a foreign-source result.
We connect the local professional assessment to any continuing UK or UAE obligations relevant to your household. Company formation, ongoing administration, signing authority and actual management are separate workstreams. An existing company can be included without assuming that moving the family requires a new entity.
Put documents and appointments in the right order
The chosen residence route determines the document list for each person. The Friendly Nations catalogue includes the notarised authority and application, three photographs, certified passport copy, criminal-record document, health certificate and personal declaration. Add the family, pension, investment or solvency evidence required by the actual route.
The Friendly Nations list specifies a B/.250 application fee payable to the treasury and a B/.800 repatriation deposit payable to SNM. Article 29 exempts, among others, children under twelve and people married to a Panamanian from the repatriation deposit. For those family members, it removes the B/.800 deposit, not the separate B/.250 application fee. The student exemption must be matched to the applicable category; an adult child’s full-time education should not simply be treated as establishing that fee exemption. Translation, certification, legal execution and travel are distinct costs. For the permanent follow-on application, the sheet calls for the earlier documents except the criminal record and cheque. We agree the specific filing requirements with the professional carrying out that application.
Each recipient needs usable evidence for their own decision. School records serve admission, source-of-funds records serve the bank and the seller’s file supports a registrable transfer. We organise procurement, the required apostille or legalisation, translation and personal appointments in that order of dependency.
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Maintain the base after the initial work
Track the next residence stage, document validity, permitted absence and work permission separately. A change of address, activity, tax details or ownership may also require the bank file to be updated. These are specific continuing tasks, not something completed by the first approval.
For the home, agree inspections, keys, bills and authority for repairs. Before your next visit, the commissioned work can cover utilities, internet, cleaning and handover. Include the school, treating provider or carer when their service is needed for arrival.
A new phone, changed bank contact or departing representative may interrupt several arrangements. Follow-up with the receiving organisations and another functional check keep the affected preparation useful. The agreement identifies recurring work, who carries out local tasks and what additional work requires a new scope. Routine bank or company administration remains distinct from maintaining the family’s home.
Keep access under review as part of that service: flights and onward travel, the approach to the home and journeys to school, treatment and care need another check before use and when relevant conditions change. Repeated interruptions, the loss of a viable care alternative or a change in the crisis situation can trigger a fresh comparison of the location or country. A bank or company arrangement that still serves its purpose can continue separately.
Ask for the Panama work you need done
If the country decision is already made, start with the missing task: residence documentation, a Boquete-to-capital comparison around your family, a reconnaissance visit, a rental or a purchase prepared through to handover. You can commission a defined piece of work directly.
For a complete family base, EXOBASIS connects those tasks, organises independent specialist examination and carries out the agreed preparation and setup. Housing, payments, school and care are coordinated around arrival. You decide on the property and financial commitments. The proposal distinguishes our organisational work, local professional services and ongoing support from rent, deposits, purchase funds and other client capital.
Does the family home have to be in the same place as the bank or company?
You can choose the home around schooling, care and everyday life while organising banking or company work separately. We connect the rights, payments, representation and continuing duties so the chosen arrangement works in practice.