Panama · Residency by investment
Permanent Residency as a Qualified Investor
Marketed as the Panama Golden Visa, though there is no separate programme by that name. The real estate threshold is USD 300,000 until 15 October 2026, then rises to USD 500,000 under Executive Decree 193 of 15 October 2024.
This is the only place in the hemisphere where a family converts USD 300,000 into unconditional permanent residency in about a month, with no presence requirement and no tax on foreign income. The October 2026 repricing is the single most time-sensitive deadline in Latin American residency planning.
Qualifying routes
Must be free of liens and encumbrances. Funds must be wired from abroad. The threshold rises to USD 500,000 from 15 October 2026.
Held through a trust or escrow with a Panamanian bank or fiduciary. Since October 2024, a public notary must ratify the promise-to-purchase or trust contract.
The broker must be licensed by Panama's Superintendencia del Mercado de Valores.
5-year term, unencumbered.
The facts
- Minimum investment
- $300k
- Total landed cost
- USD 300k in investment, plus roughly USD 16k in government and legal fees for the main applicant. Each dependant adds USD 2–3k.
- Route type
- Residency by investment
- Timeline
- 1–3 months (30–45 business days to permanent residency once a complete file is filed. This is the fastest route to permanent residency in the Americas.)
- Physical presence
- There is no annual minimum. You just need to enter Panama at least once every two years to keep permanent residency alive. Naturalisation, by contrast, demands real presence.
- Family
- SpouseChildren under 18Dependent children aged 18 to 25 who are in full-time educationDependent parents
- Permanent residency
- Immediate. This is a permanent residency from the moment it is granted.
- Citizenship
- 5 years of permanent residency before you can apply for naturalisation.
- Language test
- Candidates need Spanish at an intermediate-to-high level, plus an examination on Panamanian history, geography, culture and civics. Since 2025 they must also recite the national anthem and the pledge to the flag from memory.
- Dual citizenship
- Not permitted. You would have to renounce.
- Requirements
- Investment funds must originate abroad and be documented into Panama.A clean criminal record, apostilled.A health certificate issued in Panama.The investment must be held unencumbered for a minimum of five years.The application is filed through a Panamanian lawyer.
- The USD 300,000 threshold expires 15 October 2026 and becomes USD 500,000. This deadline has been postponed before. Decree 722 of 2020 originally set the increase for 2022, and Decree 193 of 2024 pushed it to 2026. A further extension is plausible, but it should not be relied on.
- The investment must be held for five years. Selling it, or letting it lapse without reinvesting, cancels the residency retroactively. Verification happens annually.
- Law 493 of 2025 authorises a special passport for qualified investors. This is a travel document, not nationality. It does not confer Panamanian citizenship, does not replace your own passport, and it dies with your residence permit. It is being mis-sold as a second passport. Its implementing regulations were still pending as of mid-2026.
- Panama remained on the EU's Annex I list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions at the February 2026 review. This is a live banking problem. EU counterparties apply enhanced due diligence, and some refuse Panamanian structures outright. The next review is October 2026.
- Panamanian naturalisation after five years is legally available. In practice it is discretionary and politically slow. Treat the passport as a possibility, not a plan.
- Panama's constitution does not generally recognise dual nationality. Naturalising requires formally renouncing your prior nationality before Panamanian authorities. Whether your home country actually treats that renunciation as effective is a separate question. Either way, do not assume Panama is a clean add-on citizenship.